A/N: As promised, here is the next chapter really soon. We've also hit the 10k view mark!
Wardes arrived the next morning on his Griffon and headed to the location of Inumuta and Ryuko. He had used his wind magic to determine their location, it was in an inn near the port, a smart move. Wardes hovered his Griffon above the building and jumped off after telling it to rest while he settled matters here. The Captain of the Griffon Knights hovered down with his wind magic and entered the building.
"Ryuko! Inumuta! Are you in here?"
Inumuta recognized the voice and went down to greet the man with Derflinger strapped to his back.
"Wardes, good to know you arrived safely, I trust you had a safe journey?"
"Yes, there is little that can catch a Griffon at its fastest, though those strange devices you used would likely do the trick."
"Are you interested in them?"
"They are most peculiar."
"Well I could part with maybe one of them, but I would need something of equal value in return."
"Why not let us fight a duel? If I win, I'll get the device, but if you win, I'll give you half my fortune!"
"Are you sure you are willing to bet that much?"
"I am willing to give anything so long as I can get that board, it could revolutionize warfare in the world."
"So be it, Ryuko will be your opponent, the fight shall happen at the cliff face on the outskirts of town."
"That is agreeable."
Inumuta went to wake up Ryuko and informed her of the duel.
"What's the big idea agreeing to such a thing on my behalf…"
"Just do it, I have a good reason for this."
"Fine fine, I trust you on that much."
"Thanks."
Ryuko and Inumuta headed to the cliff to discover Wardes was already there and waiting.
"So are you ready Wardes?"
"Not just yet, lets make this a little more interesting."
"How so?"
"How about you give me both boards for my entire fortune?"
"Only if I get my own condition."
"And what would that be?"
"We both get to ask the other one question which they have to answer truthfully."
Wardes quirked an eyebrow at this strange condition.
"Oh? Having doubts about me now are we? Well, whatever, I shall allow it."
Inumuta quickly printed a contract and got Wardes to sign it.
"You can ask first."
"Very well, what are your true intentions for coming to Tristain?"
"We have come to retrieve a very special artefact which will bestow upon the user amazing powers."
"And what might this artefact be?"
Inumuta waved a finger at this.
"You have already used up your question, now it is my turn."
"Ah, how discourteous of me, ask away."
"Where do your loyalties really lie?"
Wardes suddenly flinched at the questioned but quickly recomposed himself and tried to sound natural in his answer.
"Why of course I am loyal to Tristain, why else would I be on this mission with the two of you?"
"I just wanted to make sure, you two can fight on your own terms, I will be watching from afar."
The duel commenced and Ryuko opened with a charge towards the Viscount while avoiding the Air Hammers and Air Blades being thrown at her. She slashed her scissors blade at him and cut deeply into his arm.
"What are you doing! This was not a duel to the death!"
"Yes it is, that contract you stamped your seal on earlier clearly stated it was traitor!"
"I see… I don't know how you derived it but you will find I am no easy target!"
Wardes suddenly split into four. He had created wind clones that mimicked his appearance down to the finest details. The four clones had surrounded Ryuko and began to chant. At this point, Ryuko realized how easy her opponent would be based on how easily she landed her opening strike and decided to toy with him. She let the man finish his chant and lightning struck her, though a little crispy from it, she was relatively unscaved.
"Impossible! How could you take the blunt of that spell and still be standing!"
"Look Wardes, I think you need to gather more information on who you agree to duel, I'm immortal."
"A vampire?!"
"What? No! I'm not one of those blood sucking bastards! Well, I guess I'm the victim of a bloodsucker really…"
"No matter! I merely need to knock you out and make my escape! As long as I have this ring I wil be recognized as the rightful messenger from Tristain!"
As soon as he finished his sentence, a scarlet blur was seen and Warde's finger was gone while the ring found its way to Ryuko's palm.
"Thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot to steal it off you."
"Curse you!"
Wardes sent his wind clones at her while he tore off a part of his cloak to make a makeshift bandage for his arm wound and finger stump. Ryuko simply did a single diagonal slash and ended all of them. Getting genuinely bored, she decided to taunt him.
"You know Wardes, if this is the best one of the strongest knights in the country can do, we might be able to rule the world with just maybe around ten percent of our power…"
"Grr!"
Wardes used his wind magic and attempted to contact his hired thugs.
"You trying to get the bandits you hired to save your ass? It won't work, Inumuta has just dispatched them while you were distracted with our duel."
"You'll pay for this!"
Wardes charged at her in blind fury over how terribly his plan had been ruined. Ryuko stabbed her scissors blade through him and it was over. She pulled out her blade and flicked the blood off before looking to above the cliff. Inumuta had cleaned up the reinforcements easily and jumped off to join Ryuko.
"Good thing I gave him that piece of bread earlier, it contained a lie detector which I had developed."
"Partner, you've got some really advanced stuff on you, you sure you don't want to upgrade me? I mean, I haven't changed at all in these six thousand years and I feel like I'm getting left behind…"
"Fine Derf, if it bothers you that much, but I'll need to get a suitable area to construct a new body for you before I can move you."
"Hooray! Looks like this old blade can still fight yet!"
'Actually, that reminds me.'
Inumuta mentally linked with his quarry outside the academy and got it to start refilling in the ground then pack up.
'Wouldn't want to drill into the core now would we?'
"Inumuta, what's our next move, I got the ring from the guy."
"For now we should hurry to Albion, based on what I heard, the rebels are launching a final attack in a few days to wipe out the remaining Loyalists who are held up in Newcastle."
"How large we of an army we talking about here?"
"Only twenty thousand, there are another sixty thousand in reserve though."
"Really? That means once we get there it'll be a piece of cake!"
"Exactly, lets go! I've already removed the height limit on our hoverboards, catch."
Ryuko caught her board and rode off with Inumuta to the White Country.
Back at Tristain's Academy of Magic, the imperial guards tasked with protecting Inumuta's quarry while he was gone were shocked when the contraption started to fold up and fill in the hole it had created. What surprised them more was when it became a round wheel like object and started to roll away. The guards gave chase as long as they could but eventually had no choice but to let it go. The mobile Extractinator Quarry soon found itself outside Wardes' estate. The guards at the estate raised their weapons at the strange machine and tried to ward it off.
"Cease, I am an envoy from the Tech-Master."
"The Tech-Master?"
It was then that the other guard bowed down and signaled his friend to do the same.
"He's the God that punishes nobles!"
They both bowed and prayed to the 'Technomonology' God.
"Please God-san! Rid us of this horrible noble lady which has been terrorizing us commoners for the past few days!"
"I now own this mansion, the owner has surrendered his entire fortune to me."
"Yes! Perform your miracle!"
The commotion had attracted many of the other workers at the building. The mistress was sleeping at the moment and did not notice the scene below.
"Remove the building God-san!"
The machine unfolded itself and the beam shot out of its funnel, slowly siphoning off the wall surrounding the compound. The pink haired lady in her bed tumbled as the staff cheered at the beginning of the end for the manor. Once the walls were gone, the beam started removing the doors and windows of the building, then moving on to the items which weren't nailed down, eventually removing the beds. The mistress fell from her slumber and woke with a start, noticing the beam absorbing the books on her bookshelf.
"What in Brimir's name is going on here!"
She exited her doorless room and walked down the stairs, only to find the house striped of all furniture and decorations. She heard the sound of people cheering and headed to the source of the commotion, only to find a strange contraption sucking up her house. In her rage, she drew her wand and cast a spell.
"Fireball!"
The result, however, was not a fireball, no, what happened was that a large explosion was created. While the machine remained undamaged, the employees of the manor noticed that their mistress had appeared.
"Mistress Louise!"
"Explain this situation to me immediately!"
"The Tech-Master has graced us with his presence and has deemed you to be an abusive noble. His divine envoy is erasing your home as we speak, look at the splendor of it!"
"What! You'll get it when Wardes gets back!"
"But Mistress Louise, Wardes is dead. He was sent on a secret mission and was found out to be a traitor to the crown, he was executed on the spot by his comrades."
"No… It can't be true… Wardes…"
A grief stricken Louise watched helplessly as her home was demolished, crying while the commoners cheered. Once the machine had completed its job, it spat out some gold bars at the commoners before returning to its wheel form and rolling off into the sunset. Cheers could be heard as the machine disappeared off into the horizon, drowning out the wails of a recently widowed maiden.
"May Science Prevail And Magic Fail!"
A/N: See? Much quicker, the issue now is how I can maintain this speed. I plan to keep this up for a few more chapters so I hope to wrap this up before August. Review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories and poll as well. Story status information can be found on my profile.