Nightblade (Darkest night)-Chapter 168: Calamity

Calamities, Tenebrian beasts with the strength and cunning to contend with even maestros.

In the Brotherhood, maestros stood near the peak of strength. These individuals embodied the might of the Brotherhood of Assassins.

While other levels of power existed beyond that realm, it was far more difficult to attain such a level of power.

Maestros themselves were often referred to as walking calamities, a fitting comparison to their Tenebrian counterparts, the Calamities.

After all, calamities were creatures that had mastered the use of umbralis up to the level where they could affect even their environment with umbralis with a frightening degree of intricate control.

Compared to them, the Bretnar and Velisvera could be considered child’s play.

Calamities could also move between dimensions, and even worse, some were rumored to give shapeshifting abilities that allowed them to take on humanoid forms and blend in with the rest of the humans.

With the alarming progression of the caliber gf creatures that they encountered, it wasn’t entirely speculation to think that they’d encountered such a creature.

Even thinking of the possibility of such a prospect was terrifying.

Talia shuddered even thinking about it.

If their small, mismatched group of assassins encountered one, short of a miracle, they would all die.

"Well, we’ve made it this far, haven’t we?" Cassius drawled.

The dreadlocked youth leaned back, casually biting into a piece of their remaining meat.

Swallowing audibly, he pointed his bone at Lucian.

"All the creatures we’ve fought so far were far stronger than us, but we’re alive, and they’re dead. And that’s considering he fact that some of us are Talented."

Talia scoffed, turning her gaze to Cassius.

"You don’t understand..." she said, shaking her head slowly.

"If we’re up against a calamity, it’s a whole different ball game."

Lucian nodded.

"Calamities have the might and power to contend against maestros. For more context, recall the mysterious man who attacked the academy. That man was most probably a Maestro, and the members of the council that fought back were also Maestros."

The harrowing battle between the three maestros was still fresh in their minds.

The terror of standing frozen in place like dolls was difficult to forget.

The earth-shattering explosions that had ripped through the air as the three maestros fought were still fresh in their minds.

Even with the Council and Videntis present, the masked man had managed to inflict significant damage.

"Marco Dark, Cedric Ash, two heads of the renowned Great House and the mysterious maestro. Those two are some of the most powerful men to walk the Earyh, and even they would probably have a difficult time fighting a calamity..." Talia stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No, my dad would probably win without breaking apart sweat," Lucian said with a grin.

Talia scoffed, then rolled her eyes.

Even though the aspirants and the talented had been frozen still at the time, the feeling of overwhelming helplessness was quite vivid in all of their minds.

Talia pierced Cassius with an icy glare.

"We have no business fighting beings of such a caliber, at least not with our current abilities."

"This Null Codex that the assassins in this age have come up with is quite interesting, but judging from what the girl is saying, she is half right..."Sarenus whispered.

Morgan had been silently listening to the entire conversation.

It was the first time he had heard of the null codex himself.

"Is it something that’s considered common knowledge or simply shared among the Grat Houses..."

That seemed like the only plausible explanation.

The codex was a handy way of clarifying the different creatures they’d encountered in Tenebris, but that only applied to the explored regions of the parallel dimension.

Regions where the Brotherhood had constructed strongholds, and in this case, they were in the middle of nowhere, uncharted territory, and so even the creatures they were encountering here were completely new.

The Brotherhood went to great lengths when it came to documenting ancient lost cities and civilizations.

But Lucian and Talia had only discovered the traits of the creatures in this region through Morgan and Emily stumbling upon the bestiary in the Bretnar Sanctuary.

A truly fortunate coincidence.

But short of finding another such sanctuary, they’d be stumbling in the dark once again.

Fighting the veliscera would have been fatal if not for Sarenus’s help.

"Since the Veliscera have been eliminated, then I think the best course of action would be. E to explore the city," Morgan suggested.

"Once we do that, we’ll most probably discover another Sanctuary or a clue that might help us get home."

"Better yet, we might even discover an artifact. If these temples, these sanctuaries contain more information than I think that plays out to our advantage."

Lucian added.

"Brown eyes seem to be siding with you," Sarenus said casually.

Morgan’s connection with the two beings in his Void World was slowly becoming ever-present.

Sarenus had told him that after the wraith became a part of his Spirit Void, they turned into Void Walkers.

In the event that he perished, the Void Walkers would also disappear with him.

If he was being honest, with the augmentation of the Void, he probably had the might of a novice despite being an initiate, although that state of power was short-lived since his body and mind were not yet at the required level to safely contain that kind of power.

Looking at how curious Talia was about his powers, it was difficult to trust the Varas girl.

Lucian had been with him for a while, and while Ash wasn’t a known ally of the Thane, he’d constantly been on his side, even though he had a few shady secrets of his own.

For some strange reason, he also felt he could trust Emily.

The Talented girl had been with him when he first entered Tenebri, and from then, they moved together up to this point.

She was also the only person who knew about Sarenus and had been in contact with the drayghar.

The dark-haired girl also knew that Morgan knew about her ability to see the Void Walkers.

From his deductions, Morgan had discovered that Void Walkers were different from wra, although the two beings shared some similar characteristics, the most prominent of which was that Void Walkers could appear to their master without others seeing them.

Shadow wraith, on the other hand, was clearly visible even to others.

Which made the Talented girl all the more interesting.

Sarenus hinted that the connection with Asterix was what made it possible, but it still left a lot of questions.

"You know, it’d be easier if I could simply reveal your presence to the others, but better safe than sorry." Morgan thought.

"And pray tell, how could you explain the presence of a veliscera to your friend’s," Sarenus asked, with a hint of amusement.

Morgan calmly ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes in thought.

"You’re right about that, it’d look a bit weird if I started summoning creatures out of nowhere, but I could still pass it off as part of my awakened abilities..."

"A very risky endeavor on your part..."Sarenus muttered.

" And while we’re on the subject, you’d be revealing the full extent of your powers. That would leave you in a bit of a vulnerable position in the future..."

"A future that will not happen if we don’t make it out of this alive..."

Morgan’s shadow stirred slightly, taking on Sarenus’s form.

His strange affinity to the darkness allowed him to see the drayghar.

"Oh, but you, heir of Thane, you’ll definitely make it out of this alive..."

Letting out a weary sigh, Morgan spoke.

"Well then, it’s decided, we’ll comb through the ruins tomorrow for clues.

Lucian nodded, casually taking out one of his blades.

Talia frowned, staring at the two with an inscrutable expression.

Morgan threw her an amused glance, then turned away.

"While the threat of us running into a calamity is quite real, we don’t really have much of an option. If we do run into one, we’ll try to avoid it at all costs. Cassius should be able to sense something with his ability before we make contact with such a creature."

Lucian, on the other hand, is particularly proficient in detecting umbral is.Given how powerful a calamity is, we should be able to sense its presence in case we’re in iitsvicinity.

"There’s another flaw with that plan," Luchan said with a smile, casually sharpening his blade.

Morgan raised an eyebrow, turning to him in surprise.

"And what would that be?"

"Even with both of us working together, such a creature would sense our weak control over umbralis before we ever sensed it.

Morgan frowned slightly.

" Fair enough."

"The best thing to do would be to avoid it," Amanda muttered quietly. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The redhead had been quiet for most of the conversation.

"From the short time I’ve spent in this unpleasant place, I’ve learned that in order to survive, you need to be the strongest. And while were can’t do it in a day, we can still become stronger. You assassins can refine your control over umbralis, and as for the rest, if we’ll work on our abilities..."

Her eyes shone with a determined gl.int

"In other words, I won’t be cowed by some calamity or dreadform, I’m making it out of here in one piece."