Awakening: I Ascend As A Legendary Ranked Necromancer-Chapter 27: Do you know me now

"Eh? Of course, I don’t have the right to call what’s wrong or right, but when wrong has been done to me, I know it’s wrong, and I know the right thing to do," Temur said. "You can do what you want but not to me or mine."

The Captain shook his head, his voice threaded with sudden anger. "You know when wrong has been done to you? What about me? You killed my mother!"

I gasped and looked at Temur. He looked just as shocked and completely confused.

"Your mother?" Temur said slowly, as if choosing his words carefully to fully understand what was happening. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know you or your mother."

"Oh, you don’t?" The Captain shrank in on himself, cowering before straightening again. "Ahahah... wh-what about now? Do you know me?"

His voice had changed, it suddenly was now smaller, thinner and it ended in a whine.

I stared at him in shock. "Mopi?!"

"Mopi?" Temur demanded. What in the actual green grass sea was going on? Mopi was part of the Chaos Cult?

The man yanked off his mask. His small eyes glinted with fury. "Oh, now you remember me! You bloody killer! How are you any different from me when you killed my mother? Do you know how much I wanted to strangle you with my bare hands all this while but instead smiled every time I was with you?"

Temur still looked lost. It was like his view of the world had flipped upside down, something that had been happening far too often since he came to the Tower. Unlike back home, friends here weren’t really friends.

"But... why?" he asked.

"Why?" Mopi spat. "After you people killed my mother? Her lifeless body lay cold there, and I couldn’t even give her a proper burial. Before I returned, the Government took her body away!"

The pieces snapped together in my mind. Everything he was saying, it finally made sense. "Your mother... is the Priestess?"

Temur turned to me sharply. "The Priestess who tried to kill us back in the cave? But... we saved Mopi then! How can he be her son?"

Mopi laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Yes. She’s my mother. I was already in the pit, waiting for sacrifices to be lowered. Then I saw the body of the Acolyte fall, heard the sounds of fighting so I hid. I tied myself up."

Silence followed.

Temur and I tried to process what we’d just heard. We’d thought Mopi was just some awkward guy who liked sneaking up on people, but now...

"Then why didn’t you attack us immediately?" I asked. "Why wait, if you were so set on vengeance?"

"Because you fools are always together," he said coldly. "And admittedly, you’re strong, even separately. I needed my squad. And here, far from any interference, I’ll have my revenge and send your souls to Chaos."

He summoned his Grimoire. Instead of the blurry orb it had once been, a deck of cards hovered before him.

"Your Grimoire changed," I said in surprise. I’d never seen anything like that before.

He flipped through the cards. "My abilities are based on lucky powers. One of the cards I drew that day was Illusion. Now let’s see... I need something strong to kill you. Hmm... something good."

"But we are not to kill that one," one of the warriors said. "The High Priest said so."

Mopi sneered. "We’ll just tell him the monster he summoned killed him already. He only wanted his Chaos Devourer anyway."

"So you knew about the monsters in the zone?" Temur said, his eyes warping with new anger as he stepped forward. "You’re part of the people who hurt Litha."

His aura stirred.

"Where I come from, we ride for our friends and trample our enemies. Prepare yourself."

Before I could even react, Temur blurred forward like a released arrow. He appeared in front of Mopi, swinging his sword down with the strength of a charging bull.

Mopi danced back, but Temur had anticipated it. He lunged again, his sword uncoiling like a whip.

Woosh!

The blade only bit into Mopi’s chest, drawing blood but it was too shallow.

It happened so fast that by the time the other paladins reacted, Temur had already stepped back.

He shook his sword. "The next one will be your head."

Mopi stared at the blood staining his chest, disbelief flickering across his face. How long had it been since he’d seen his own blood?

He snarled and shuffled his cards rapidly even as pain made his face a grimace. Finally, he drew one. His lips curled into a cold smile. "Lucky me, it’s the King of Swords."

He slapped the card against his chest. Energy surged through him and his eyes turned silver while a thin sword slid out from his ring.

Temur shifted his stance. "The King of Swords, you say? Let me tell you, there’s only one sw...."

Clang! Clang!

Steel clashed.

Mopi had exploded forward without warning but even then his opponent wasn’t caught slacking!

Mopi’s blade slammed into Temur’s guard with a clang. Temur grunted, clearly not expecting that much strength from such a small body.

Mopi laughed in a wild and carefree sound, and slashed again. Temur parried, but the impact drove him back, pain jolting through his arm.

’Impossible’ I thought. How did Mopi get that kind of strength? And his swordsmanship.....that’s not amateurish at all!

Temur must have realized it too.

He gripped his sword with both hands. The last of his aura flooded the blade, turning it molten bright. His Grimoire hovered above him, his master watching with a disapproving gaze.

Temur grinned. "The only Sword King is my master, and my Grimoire. One day, I’ll claim that title. Come, Mopi. Let our swords do the talking."

The paladins and I could only watch.

The two collided again. Sparks flew as they parried, blocked, dodged, and slashed.

From a master swordsman’s view, it would’ve looked like this...Mopi fought like an artist, his sword a brush and his opponent the canvas. Temur was like a boy wearing his father’s clothes, they fit, but he hadn’t grown into them yet.

Temur thrust forward.

Mopi blocked near his neck, exactly where Temur wanted him.

Then..... stored aura in his sword detonated.

It extended outward in a single lethal arc and cleanly severed Mopi’s head from his body.