"Teacher! You have arrived!" Nora’s face was filled with joy when she saw Siderius.
He nodded. "You did good. Now leave the rest to me."
Siderius opened his left palm and hovered it over the length of the blade. His mouth murmured a whisper.
The blade made by True Steel lit up in an orange hue and it exuded intense heat that distorted the air around it.
Siderius dashed forward and jumped into the horde of corpses like a wolf found a den of sheep. His blade shone like a torch and burned like a sun. With each swing, a group of corpses were slashed in pieces. They fell down on the ground only to continue burning until nothing left.
"Unbelievable." Caterina observed everything with widened eyes.
There were witches who could fight. But they were nowhere near the level of Siderius. At best, they used spell to assist them in combat. Their footwork and actual skill in combat were minimal.
Jude was the best example. He could turn into the creature of many things, incorporating the traits of the things he had consumed and elevating his physical prowess.
But Jude was not a warrior. His fights with himself were simply a fight between two brutes, checking who could take better hits and who could hit more.
Siderius was more elegant. He moved with calculation and purposes. Each swing was crafted from thousands and millions of practice swings.
The horde of corpses was quickly cleansed to nothingness.
Siderius snapped his head toward the Phantom. It had taken out its triangular bell again, ready to smack it again.
"No, you don’t." Siderius turned to a blur and quickly reached the edge of the barrier.
The hunter punched his left fist forward, releasing a giant light arrow at the direction of the Phantom. The arrow screeched through the air and went through the barrier. It pierced into the hands of the Phantom, forcing it to drop the bell onto the ground.
Siderius continued to approach it.
"The Nightmare ends today, Jerath. You can rest now."
The hunter opened his three fingers and called upon the binding of light.
Light turned into ropes and restrained the Phantom in its place. Siderius lowered his body slightly, pouring the strength into his legs. Then he jumped up, turning into a bullet splitting the air in two.
His blade swiped through the neck of Phantom with ease, leaving a trail of blaze because of his sigil. The head of the Phantom dropped to the ground.
Its disfigured face slowly turned back into the human face of Jerath Fisher.
The black cloud covering the sky of the Mind Palace dissipated, returning the clear blue sky back to Siderius’ Mind Palace.
"It’s time to wake up." Siderius smacked the tip of his sword on the ground, ending the effect of the Alchemy Seal that brought them to this dream world.
In reality, Siderius opened his eyes. The Alchemy Seal on his forehead burned off and disappeared.
Caterina and Jude woke up soon after, still daze because of what they had gone through.
Siderius stood up and dusted off his knees.
"My work here is done. I assume my payment will be taken care of very soon?" Siderius said.
Jude nodded grimly. He couldn’t make light of Siderius’ existence any more. "My men will take care of it. One gold coin. Is that enough?"
"That is too cheap of a price, Jude. You know that." Siderius shook his head and smiled.
"You’re being a bit stingy, Jude." Caterina held his arms. "He released Jerath from his torment."
"Fine. Five gold coins. That’s the best I can do. Scalize made less than ten gold coins in a month. I can’t give you more than that."
"Five gold coins are fine." Siderius nodded.
Five gold coins were five hundred silver coins or five thousand bronze coins. It was a very substantial amount even for a noble. Gold was very precious here and had much more value than other metals.
"Not quite." Jude suddenly said. "I can only give you five gold coins because coins are very important. It is the backbone of Scalize and I need those coins to run the town. But I can give you something else as well. If you’re willing to take it."
"You pique my interest. What else do you want to give me?" Siderius raised an eyebrow.
"Consider it a surprise. I need to make a little arrangement. I’ll tell you about it at the feast. I am going to host a feast for the ’slaying’ of the phantom. You are invited."
"A week from now. The Phantom caused quite a panic inside Scalize. I need to make sure everyone knows that it is taken care of first."
"That will do. I’ll see you a week from now then. In the meantime, if you need me, come to the Crossroads Inn."
The Baron went into his personal chest and took five gold coins out for Siderius as his first payment. His second surprise payment would come later.
Siderius then bade farewell to the two witches and left the Baron’s estate. His pouch now weighed heavy with an additional five gold coins.
Siderius visited the two blacksmiths to check up on Finn.
Finn’s health had seen much improvement the last few days thanks to the tonics Siderius provided. He had stopped coughing and his strength returned to him.
The two blacksmiths could finally begin to work on the weapon.
Siderius sat beside Finn’s bed and checked his pulse and vitals. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦·𝘯𝘦𝘵
"The cure is doing good works. But do not stop drinking it. This disease is very stubborn and if you stop taking the cure, all of our efforts will be for nothing."
Finn nodded. "I understand. I won’t forget."
George slapped his biceps. "He can’t forget because I will be reminding him. If he doesn’t want to drink it, I will force it down his throat."
"Haha..." Finn smiled.
"You two are official members of our guilds now." Siderius took out a piece of parchment and gave it to the two blacksmiths. "There is missing information inside the Schematics."
Finn and George got close and examined the parchment.
"Iron Blood? So that’s how we can yield stable Dull Steel..."
"Soul Iron? I have never heard about this type of ore before..."
"Study them well." Siderius said. "We will begin forging the weapon from tomorrow."
"What are you going to call the weapon, Lord Watcher?" Finn said.
"Hmmm. We will call it Blazing Soul."