It has been a day since Ernaut had lost Isaiah, who was a comrade who decided to tag-along because he felt that Ernaut was being treated too harshly and that he was able to understand his motivation and the information from the Tear of Heaven that hardly anyone else cared in. Yesterday, Ernaut did something that he'd felt was more defensive than anything else that he'd done before; attacking the Nexus forces using his own weaponry. He still refused to kill any Nexus troops, but he felt like that he could afford to defend himself using his own weaponry, only to blow their weapons off and injure them to keep them from coming after him. As he recalled, he destroyed Beck's rapier using his Spirit Needle and attacked the soldiers, and then took advantage of the situation to move forward, which was something that he had so far never done before. He felt like he already had the confidence to start actually defending from himself against attacks from the military forces, but he was still reluctant to kill them, because he still felt like that there could still be a chance to get back home after fulfilling Karin's promise.
Ernaut was walking through the clear forest. It wasn't as darker as the forests Ernaut was lost in yesterday. Ernaut could still see the light above the trees and the sunshine brimming in the area, as today wasn't a very cloudy day in the Nexus. Yesterday was a very cloudy day in the Nexus which meant that the sun was mostly blocked and the dense forests get very dark, and that's ignoring the fact that during nighttime, the only light to ever come out would be the glowstone lamps in the streets or the stars and the moon out in the clear skies, which can't be seen on cloudy days.
Ernaut eventually ran into a dead end; a gigantic rock blocking the path. It was too heavy for Ernaut to lift, or even anyone pretty much. Ernaut could've just went around it, but it was a tunnel it was blocking and he didn't know where it could lead because all the other paths seem to go over it. He still had to figure out something from Karin, and he still realized that he was already thinking of potentially a new ability that he hasn't learned yet.
"I think I'm going to need a new tool of choice to destroy that rock. It's too heavy to lift, and I'm not going around it because I think this could be a tunnel to my destination." Ernaut said. "I'm also thinking of something like a new tool to get rid of this rock, something strong and penetrable. I need to be able to tackle this rock to pieces so I can continue on."
"It looks like you need a good charging weapon to destroy that. Ah yes! Now it's time for the Spirit Spear! Now imagine yourself as if you were to joust yourself towards your enemy…" Karin asked, getting ready to bless Ernaut with a new weapon; the Spirit Spear.
After Ernaut got his Spirit Spear ability unlocked, he then got ready to use the ability which represented a jousting lance that Ernaut would aim in front of him. Ernaut charged up a spear that destroyed the rock and made him on a dash that was really fast for him. He was able to steer, but the steering wasn't that great for him, especially for a jousting spear that Karin cast for him, which he is in fact using for the first time. After destroying the rock, Ernaut was inside the tunnel. The tunnel looked like it was a mix between stone walls with a bit of a wood interior inside with glowstone lamps inside of it, likely to provide light during nighttime.
"Careful Ernaut, look where you're going!" Karin tried to warn Ernaut about crashing, but he ended up impaling the tree located outside the tunnel while Ernaut was trying to slow down.
"Ow…I'm okay though." Ernaut claimed, upon being knocked back from impaling the spear. He suffered no injuries whatsoever except for some minor head pain that would usually fade out after a few minutes.
"I think you should need a little more practice with that. Keep in mind the more you charge, the more strength you gain, and the more energy I consume. This is not an easy weapon for use, and it's meant for specific situations like getting through blocked walls or any moments that require speed, such as when the doors close or something like that. This is a jousting weapon. It's not a weapon where you simply can just use it just like your Spirit Fists, it's a charge weapon for specific purposes." Karin replied.
"I understand. There's still I think one more weapon for me to learn that I at least know off, and that is that longsword weapon that I saw in my dream. I don't know how to even earn it, but I do remember what it does; it's a long whip sword that slashes your way through enemies, but it is much slower than my fists." Ernaut said.
"Well, you're not getting that ability anytime soon for the time being. You need to further your bond with me if you want to be able to master out everything. What you saw in that dream, was actually a preview of what I was capable off, and also one last thing; these powers aren't for free, you know. They are simply earned for by unlocking the Tear of Heaven and progressing through my abilities by fighting the Chromas and learning various tasks, you name it." Karin explained.
Ernaut continued to walk down the path. He eventually had enough energy to go do some running, so he charged up the Spirit Spear to do some practicing. He went for a small charge of the Spirit Spear to get him on the run, and eventually he went on a little sprint right now thanks to the Spirit Spear. He was running down the footpath that according to the compass was the direction to Hobbs's Summit.
Ernaut stopped on what could be a sight, Ernaut saw a fenced area with several buildings inside that looked like it could be a hideout or a fortress. Looking over the brick fence, Ernaut knew it was bad news for him and something that he would have to fight through; this was one of the soldiers' garrisons across the Nexus, where they assemble soldiers to call for and fight across the area. He also saw that Captain Beck was there as well, likely hoping for him over there. He was expecting another fight on the way there as well, so Ernaut had a plan, he'll dash into the main building, start an ambush, and fight his way out.
First, Ernaut decided to use the Spirit Spear to dash into the main building of the garrison. The walls of the building crashed open and eventually alerted all of the soldiers and even Beck. All of the soldiers surrounded Ernaut and eventually Beck jumped in. Everyone was armed with various weapons; swords or even bows, but Beck wanted to say something before attacking.
"Everyone, keep your weapons down. We need to not surround him." Beck warned, trying to get the soldiers from surrounding Ernaut. However, none of the soldiers were listening to him, likely too focused on taking down Ernaut and getting the big reward.
"Why not? He's the most wanted criminal that we need to stop! He attacked this garrison first!" One of the soldiers asked back.
"Well, last time I tried to get him cornered, he eventually charged up one of his magical weapons against us and injured most of us at the time and broke my weapon, and I think he's doing that right now!" Beck said.
"Umm, Beck, what's he doing?" Another soldier asked, pointing at Ernaut's clenched fists that sound like he's charging up another one of his weapons. Ernaut was already thinking of a plan to fight back and move on from the garrison, but this time, he wasn't going to charge up the Spirit Needle again, but his other two weapons instead.
"He's charging up his weapons! You need to get out of the way!" Beck warned, trying to get the soldiers away from the garrison to avoid Ernaut's attacks, but they were given little time because in as quickly as 20 seconds, Ernaut charged up the Spirit Spear and zoomed towards one of the corners of the brick fence, knocking out any guards in his way and wrecking the brick fence. Then, Ernaut zoomed back into the other corner of the fence, getting ready to charge up his other weapon, the Spirit Fist. He performed a double lariat using the Spirit Fist, spinning around and then hitting anything in sight; buildings, any guards that were going after him or trying to run away from him, and even Beck as well. Of course, this was the only way to fight off the guards and he's basically at this point destroyed most of the garrison right now to ruins.
After all of the carnage caused by Karin's weaponry, Ernaut has injured 90% of the garrison's guards, including Captain Beck. The garrison had been entirely destroyed to ruins, but some of the guards managed to escape. By the looks of the damages, it would've looked like to take weeks to even repair and restore, even with a group of strong construction workers! He knew that he had to get out of here before Beck can catch up, so he dashed with the Spirit Spear and eventually got out of the garrison by heading the path behind the garrison which was where to continue his directions.
"What a cool spear he had… I've never seen such weapons like that." One of the soldiers commented upon seeing Ernaut dash with the Spirit Spear ability. "How do you think he manages to get these weapons and tools on his side, anyway?"
"Well, we're not giving up right now. We're having Quinn take care of him, I'll rush to Hobbs's Summit and get Quinn on the move. She's ranged, so she can easily take down Ernaut easily as we don't need to rely on swords and stuff. I was guessing that this guy had a jousting spear, and what do you know? I was right all along." Beck said.
"You expect us to believe his motivation?" Another soldier said. "You know, that one motivation with that strange crystal which we call the Tear of Heaven whatever, which is still something we don't even care about or even know about because it didn't originate here in the Nexus but instead Otherland or whatever you call it?"
"Well, he's got the most convoluted motivation yet, and that is find his way east to destroy the Comet, and the Chromas. He also supports this one myth called the Comet Caller, which as you know is claimed that there was a woman from the east named Aruku, who was fighting through what was called the Epoch of the Comet, and then she obtained some sort of blessing to the Comet thanks to this one message called the Call of the Comet which I don't know about and don't care about, thank you very much. Then, she became known as the Comet Caller, and then there was this one mysterious man who tried to talk to us about all of that stuff, but we refused to believe in it, because we don't have evidence to even support it, or I suppose you could just say the Chromas, but they show up whenever they want to and we mostly blame it on Ernaut, because he's the one who got the Tear of Heaven inside of him with all of these mysterious powers that we cannot find."
"So, all of this was started by a mysterious man who was talking about Aruku, we called her the Comet Caller and refused to believe in her, until something, something… Oh! How did this Tear of Heaven get here right away and find its way to Ernaut?" the soldier asked back.
"Apparently here's how it all began. There were only a few people caring about Aruku and the Comet, such as Ernaut and Janice. Then, Ernaut began to start developing some curiosity and interest over Aruku from Janice, and after that, the Tear of Heaven came out from the sky, and guess who went in there and grabbed it? Ernaut himself. He, hid it in his backpack and then unlocked it into his body, meaning the original Tear of Heaven is just a shell right now, meaning if he dies, the Spirit of Heaven or Karin, whatever you want to call it, is released back into the Tear. Then, he was already doing well hiding the Tear of Heaven from anyone else, until eventually, the Chromas came and attacked his home, killing both of his parents. He killed all of the Chromas, but Wally took him into custody. He then ran off and ran off hiding out with anyone who supported him and even cared about Aruku. Reportedly, he escaped in that ship that was heading to Evergrove, but Wally already delivered us news about it. All of these was recorded in Nexus newspapers about what happened. If it weren't for Shion and Wally telling me about Ernaut heading down to Evergrove, I wouldn't have known about him. Here's the deal, we're gonna likely form a team, called Wally's Warriors, and that team will consist of Wally the leader, Shion the hunter, myself as the Captain, and Quinn the Daybreaker, and that team's goal is to take care of Ernaut once and for all!" Beck said.
"Great idea. Let's contact Wally and get this assembled!" The soldiers and Beck were tired for a bit from the carnage, so they figured to rebuild for a bit to find somewhere to rest.
Ernaut ran and ran down the path towards the route to Hobbs's Summit. He knew he was getting closer and closer, until he was getting to the point where night was falling. He was tired from all of the fighting at the garrison and he wanted to setup a tent with Karin. Before Ernaut could go to sleep in his tent, Karin wanted to talk to him again;
"Ernaut, I see that you're starting to learn how to actually fight against the Nexus military. Are you still catering to get back to your original home after you finish your quest? Because it seems like you're straying away from it." Karin asked. "I believe that you originally didn't want to harm the Nexus's soldiers, but then I wanted you to be safe, and then you eventually started to fight them."
"Well, it's still my dream right now, because in my heart I still believe that my homeland cannot be replaced for the time being, even after I make the biggest changes from fulfilling your promise, Karin. It's just that some things can be changed and some things cannot be changed, so keep that in mind as well, like my dream to get back home after I finish it, in my heart right now cannot be changed because I believe so far, my plan is to end the Epoch of the Comet, and then get back home hopefully with my house completely restored." Ernaut replied.
"You're going to have to think about that dream, especially on whether or not you can change everything after you finish the Epoch of the Comet, because that dream sounds completely impossible right now, especially when you're already fighting against the military right now."
"It's basically self-defense right now, and changing the Nexus would be one of the wishes I'm going to make right when I finally end the Epoch of the Comet and defeat whoever or whatever is behind all of this." Ernaut replied.
"As I'm only the Spirit of Heaven, or should I say the Goddess of Wisdom, which of right now is my true alias. I'm going to explain your real mission right now because I think this might be a good time right now to explain it; you have to find all 4 Tears right now before you can make your wishes to change the world forever. You have myself, and there's three others out there like me, but they are all represented in different colors and have different Gods representing them. I can't tell you where they are and what exactly they do right now, because that's something you're going to have to figure out as your journey progresses."
"Now I understand what my true objective is right now when I get over there to the eastern lands of Teya where the Comet is. I've got so many wishes right now for my life after solving the Epoch of the Comet and defeating all of the Chromas that I can't explain right now, but my biggest wish right now is to get back home to the Kingdom of Nexus with everyone redeemed, because it would mean a lot to me, especially on finding myself a home after my journey."
"That's still going to be something to think about and whether or not everything is possible. Sure, you can change something after ending the Epoch of the Comet, but are you really sure that you want to change everything? Some things are meant to be changed, and some things are not meant to change. Eventually on the quest against the Comet in the eastern lands, I think you might eventually come across some comrades that will actually stay with you and it'd might be wise to even stay with them if they get close to you."
"I've had three comrades so far, and none of them have managed to last that long. I think I might be able to redeem Aruku if I get the chance, and the mysterious man might make a return, because I'm pretty sure that the mysterious man, especially with the armor is much stronger than me. There's also Gabriella, the queen of the Haven Tribe, but I don't know where she is right now, but that's pretty much it. Gabriella I might be able to work with her real easily, because I think right now she has a similar goal; defeating the Chromas and destroying the Comet." Ernaut replied back before yawning. He looked like he was getting tired from Karin's conversations.
"Ernaut, should I end this conversation here? You look like you're getting tired." Karin asked back, softly and quietly, upon seeing and hearing Ernaut yawning, as if he was getting tired as well.
"Yes, I need to get some sleep for tomorrow so I can continue my journey to Hobbs's Summit to find the portal east, because that's the only place right now that can take me east." Ernaut said, before going to sleep in the tent that Karin provided for him.
"Night Ernaut. Remember, you will not be alone on your quest to destroy the Comet…" Karin said after Ernaut went to sleep. She wanted to wish Ernaut that he will not be the only one with the same motivation when he finally gets out of the Nexus and finds his way to the Comet.
