Chapter 54: Aresoul Encampment

"The Varlan have started to move," Barabin pointed to a spot on the map in front of him, and gently grabbed the wheel of the bus, gently tilting it to the side. "Tell the iron horse to go in that direction."

"It-it's not an animal," Harley gently smacked his hands, looking back at Jenny sleeping on Howard's shoulder. "However, I'm feeling a bit angry. You mind telling me why Jenny has to be attached to Howard at the hip? Monica definitely wouldn't like that. Frankly, it took me weeks to just be able to lie down on his shoulder."

Harley had begun to feel genuine feelings for Howard after three weeks of pretending to like him. At first, she just wanted to get on Monica's nerves, but now he seemed to squash the loneliness in her heart. He also could summon the flames around her, causing her to feel a special connection with him through his Ki. Grabbing the wheel gently, she turned and went down a strange spiral road, leading her towards a series of large mountains.

The mountains in front of her could be considered the gates of the Furnace. When the Furnace opened in one of the hundred points, the mountains would appear, poking at the beautiful wings that formed in the sky. These mountains also tended to hold the weakest Authoritarians, but still the Workalin, Varlan, and Aresoul generally swerve swirled in circles around the peaks.

However, very rarely did a company travel with someone like Barabin, with strength enough to shatter mountains.

Yet even this to many people would still not be worth it. The amount of time it took to get over the Hundred Opening Mountains was shorter only if you didn't get entangled in an Authoritarian's grasp. Authoritarians that had dominion over certain locations also defended them fiercely using every means possible.

The easiest types of Authoritarians to beat lived in solitude, hiding in caverns and lurking in the dark. However, on the other hand, the most difficult Authoritarians had possession of vasts reserves of their own kind to unleash at trespassers. Feeling the ground shake, Barabin looked outside only to see a small Authoritarian Six Flame Serpent gently heading in their direction.

Noticing it's calm eyes, Barabin looked towards Howard, seeing him resting peacefully in Jenny's space.

"This is unbelievable. He really does calm down Authoritarians," Barabin watched the bus zoom by the Six Flame Serpent with misty eyes. "In my entire life, I've never been more happy to have a student."

"I've never been more angry to have to share," Harley scoffed, seeing Reece sleeping in the back of the bus. "Ugh, I don't understand how Reece does it. Doesn't she want companionship?"

"Take the iron horse up that big path in the center," Barabin patted Harley on the back. "That should take us straight through the mountains. If everything goes well, we might even pass by an abandoned Shrine."

"Got it. Ignore the teenager trying to fall in love," Harley speed on the gas, disappearing over the canyon.

To the right, in the distance, a large explosion destroyed the top of a mountain, causing the bus to shake as two massive forces began to fight.

###

"Good news," Una said to Monica, "Since we're by ourselves, we don't have to worry about speed limits," Una stepped on the throttle of a black, striped motorcycle, zooming through the open desert at a fast speed while shattering zombies that appeared to her left and right.

Having to go around the mountains, Una had made sure to leave early. At the current moment, they'd already entered into the sweltering heat of the Furnace.

In all directions, different bizarre landscapes seemed to have burgeoned rapidly in the horizon. A few ice cold tundras with large glaciers seemed to cut through the skies while dozens of buildings littered the road in various places.

Large roars could be heard from various Authoritarians, beginning to fight against others for domination of the landscape. Turning down a lowg, spinning road, Una rapidly turned into a flash, holding out her hand to decimate thousands of zombies heading in her direction. A Fire Cloud turned them into dust before she saw a large gas station on the side of the road.

"Kiddo, time for our first stop," Una felt Monica tightly hugging her torso, and gently reached back to reveal her hair. Underneath the helmet, Monica couldn't help but cry. Early in the morning, she'd watch Jenny crawl on top of Howard. For some reason, after weeks of Harley bothering her, she just decided to let her do it.

"Una… Sorry to ask, but do you think Howard is special?" Monica walked into the gas station after Una, gently holding her hand. "Do-do you think in the Furnace, eventually someone will steal him from me?"

"He's very special." Una grabbed a canister and began to fill it up with gas. "However," Turning and seeing a large four armed zombie coming towards her, she paused and lifted her hand, causing it to light up in frames. "Our main concern is staying a live right now, sprout. You and him are perfect together. Unlike that Ki Infested Zombie."

"It's bad here right?" Monica said, walking over to the strange zombie and looking at the arms fused in its back. "I mean. I know we were talking about Howard, but… normal zombies can't take it this far in the Furnace, right?"

"Yup, that zombie probably fused with a nearby zombie. Ugh, the further we get in, the more dangerous the zombies will get. You think you're stronger than me now? I heard you're in the C rank according to teacher." Uni tossed Monica a bag of chips, and an orange soda, smiling widely.

"Heh, I thought I'd just get one of those for Zack. I-I really miss him, Monica." Una got back onto the motorcycle after filling it with fuel, and gently grabbed Monica's hand against her waist. "Anyways, about Howard, I trust him a lot. I saw the look in his eyes against Necrolith. He-he cares about you, and us. Unless you give him permission, that is, he'll keep his arms only around your hips."

"Hmph, jerk, He's probably getting his arm sucked on right now," Monica saw a few thousand more zombies rushing towards her and scoffed, holding out her hand and crushing each zombie with a gigantic wall of ice.

"I-I'll see you soon idiot."

###

Aresoul Encampment, Sixth Station

Two men in black capes floated in the air with their arms stretched out. With every movement, the Ki in the air seemed to enter inside them. With every word they spoke, the air seemed to turn and transform before entering into the doors appearing behind them.

Suddenly opening his eyes, the largest of the two, a 2 meter man with black hair that seemed to travel all the way down his spine, held out his hand, causing a diagram to appear floating on the wall.

"I just got an idea. Zalick from Exland Empire just contacted me. Would you like to cause the students of the Furnace some hell?" The large man snapped his fingers, causing dozens of magician's to appear in the diagram floating in space. His partner, a much smaller man at one and a half meters tall, opened his eyes and stared forward, shaking his head.

"No, that would be a bad idea," The smaller man said, lifting his hand as another diagram formed. "Barabin is with them according to our sources. Even if me and you go, there is no guarantee we will succeed. Then the agreement we had with the four guardians would be obsolete."

"The agreement merely states that the strongest of the four nations won't attack. We aren't the strongest anymore. Heh, some of our students have recently succeeded us in power," Respell smiled, pointing at a small kid behind him that had a gigantic broadsword floating in front of him. "Since my student has succeeded me in power, I won't be breaking the rules. We can always send a delegation to pay our respects. Barabin, after all, has stopped drinking blood. With him weakened, it will be easy as destroying a brittle tree."

The small man sighed, looking forward at the floating map and suddenly floated forward, appearing next to it. Taking a closer look, he nodded his head.

"If your student is really stronger than you, it won't be breaking the rules. However, how confident are you we'll succeed?" The smaller man was the leader of the Aresoul Sixth Station.

The Aresoul had two hundred stations in the Furnace, greatly dwarfing the other nations in terms of territory. Magicians actually were much more common, and one out of every 50 million humans had the capability of being one. Putting that together with a search agreement they had with the Exland Empire, they should have easily dominated the Furnace years ago.

Of course, with every benefit comes a drawback. Magicians had life span limits of 300 years, and passed 200 years the strongest slowly got weaker. Dipping his hand in a large vat of coagulated Ki, Respell watched the wrinkles on his skin, slowly turning into a more youthful form.

Unfortunately, Respell had reached 200 years old, and every year after would have to train harder and harder to match his former glory. Every day, Respell tried to channel the energy into the air, conducted new experiments to change the cells in his body, but to no avail.

With nothing left to lose, it didn't make sense not to try and kill his nemesis. Barabin had faced him three times and each time let him live so that he could forever live with countless demons in his heart.

"Right here. They will enter into the Ki Reservoir,' Respell said with a smile. "All we need is ten of our Magicians on top of the canyons. If we all attack at the same time, Barabin will have to protect himself and watch all his students die around him! Hahaha! I can't think of anything better!"

"If we fail, according to the agreement, our truce will really null," Plorik said, shrugging his shoulders. "However, you're looking a little bit old around the edges. If we lose this Ki Reservoir, you'll probably die at 280. How tragic will that be for us?"

"It's done then. Our number one student will stay behind and run the village. The Aresoul Royal Brigade shall decimate Barabin and his little students and we'll all get to celebrate in Calron! Any word if the Workalin have killed Zack yet?"

The small man nodded his head, holding up his hand before an ax appeared and chopped through a floating figure's torso. Watching fake blood burst in the sky, Respell could only smile wider, feeling all his hopes and dreams turning into reality.

"He-he hasn't paid his debt in a year. According to the Workalin, he'll get executed in a week. It's a shame, I tried to purchase him, but they sensed my animosity. Those people are strange. I swear, if they didn't have technology that allowed us to communicate with the Exland Empire, I'd love to see their cities burned."

"It's time," Respell wiped off his hands, "It will take us a week to get to the Reservoir. Two days later, blood will rain into the air and fill our faces with the brightest smiles. Barabin's dreams will melt in front of him just like mine did when he killed my father. HAHAHA Revenge is just a day away."