World Keeper

Chapter 1180: A Good Day for Rain

Scarlet’s Trial of Blood was, admittedly, different from the Trial of Blood that the ninja clans once created. At least, to a degree. When Charle agreed to undergo this trial, Scarlet took her to a crimson forest within her kingdom. There, she began to spar with Charle, ordering her to keep a close lid on her power.

Naturally, Charle was not that good at first. Any time she was startled, or felt a threat, white light flashed through her surroundings. However, this did not stop Scarlet as it had stopped so many people in her past. Instead, every time the light flashed, it was replaced by an oppressive, red light that caused Charle to feel the shadow of death looming over her. As if to eyes, like red suns, were staring directly into her soul.

This was the true significance of the Trial of Blood that Scarlet had created. She would force Charle to learn how to control her ability by triggering her survival instinct. Previously, that instinct had been part of the reason why her white light was triggered, but now it would serve as the very thing to stop it. Even if Charle knew that she was safe, and could still continue the spar, there was no denying the fear that came when Scarlet unleashed her bloodlust.

For a full four days, the two continued this spar, with Scarlet not allowing even a moment of rest. Her goal was to train Charle to the point where she could go for a full hour of combat without triggering the energy once. To ensure that she did not get too used to the training, she would vary the level of combat, sometimes making it rather simple, and then suddenly surprising Charle with an attack that seemed impossible for her to overcome.

Every time Charle used her white light, the timer was reset. It took the entire four days before she was able to last an entire hour without using her energy once. After that, Scarlet suddenly stopped attacking, and Charle hesitated, glancing to the side as if expecting red spears to skewer her out of nowhere.

“Congratulations, Charle.” Scarlet spoke up with a small grin. “You have completed Stage One of the training.”

“S-Stage one?” Charle asked in confusion, having thought that there would only be one stage.

“That’s right.” Scarlet confirmed, snapping her fingers. Suddenly, a red throne appeared behind her, which she sat down on. “Stage One is designed to prevent accidental activations of your power by instilling an instinctive fear into you. Because of this fear that has been drilled into your subconscious, you will currently not activate your flash by accident. However… you may find it difficult to activate it consciously as well.”

Charle’s eyes widened, and she focused, trying to activate her white light. She could feel the energy inside of her, but it felt like there was something stopping her from touching it. The same feeling that made you pull back on a punch at the last second when you were aiming at a brick wall, or stopped you from taking a step forward when standing on the edge of a cliff.

Seeing Charle focusing like this, Scarlet could guess what she was trying to do. “That’s right. Currently, there is a subconscious wall in your mind. It’s blocking you from activating the power, because it has become strongly associated with the fear of death. In order to activate it again, you will need to overcome this barrier. However, as a former ninja assassin, I do not believe that this will be a difficult challenge for you.”

Charle bit her lip, but nodded her head. It was true, overcoming the fear of death was one of the very first lessons taught to a ninja in their training. A ninja that backed away in the face of death was unwanted. Perhaps that was why it had taken four days for the first stage to be completed in the first place. “Out of curiosity, Your Highness… how many stages are there?”

Scarlet simply grinned, leaning against the side of her throne. “Five. However, they are just iterations of the first and second stages. After you have managed to release your power on demand again, and overcome the mental barrier, we will repeat the activities of the first stage. This way, any additional lapse in control can be taken care of. Then, you will overcome that barrier as well, and we will repeat the first stage one last time. At that point, you should be able to release the energy when and only when you intend to.”

Charle’s face went pale as she listened to this. On paper, this sounded like a feasible strategy. However, the amount of mental strain it would cause on the subject was terrifying. Charle would spend several days under a constant feeling of death, and each time had to overcome that feeling through sheer willpower. For a normal person, that could potentially put them in a vegetative state, or cause their psyche to break down. Even for a ninja, that was not something that could be considered normal training.

Part of her was starting to regret agreeing to this form of training. However, the only alternative was to spend the rest of her life relying on an external object, one that could potentially break down at a moment’s notice. Worse, if it did break down, she would have lost all of her vigilance against the energy, making it even more rampant.

So, she had to suck it up and endure. Such was essentially the motto of any ninja training in a special program. She focused on her energy, pushing back that mental block. After a few moments, the white light flashed again.

Instinctively, Charle flinched, as if preparing to feel that overbearing killing intent once again. Yet, it didn’t come this time. This allowed her to relax, continuing her training. After the first release, it became easier to utilize her energy, and she felt the mental barrier slowly dropping. Of course, she knew that this would inevitably lead to the energy going out of control again, which was why more training was necessary.

Thankfully, the first stage of the training was actually the hardest in this case. The most challenging part of the path Scarlet devised was to instill the initial mental barrier, which had to counter all of Charle’s previous training. Once that was done, the rest of it was little more than fine-tuning.

For that reason, it only took two more days of training before Scarlet decided to finish things. At this point, Charle was a bit too skittish to do anything else right now. Though, personally, Scarlet saw that as a victory, as her power was not activating even with how jumpy she was. Had it been just one week prior, her power would trigger with every minor fright.

“Well!” Scarlet smiled, satisfied with her nearly full week of training the girl. “Is there anything you would like to do to relax now?” Scarlet asked, though Charle couldn’t help but see her smile as a cruel, twisted grin.

She bit back the instinctive remark that would be to run away and find a hole to hide in. “C-can I… meet Lena?” She asked in a shaky voice.

Scarlet blinked, but ultimately nodded her head. This was a meeting that had to happen sooner or later. She had even been receiving messages from Lena during the last six days while they were training, asking for updates on Charle.

“Very well.” Scarlet said with a solemn sigh. Aurivy, can you bring one of the Lena’s here?

Yup, sure thing! Aurivy responded, a golden flash filling the forest. Charle yelped and jumped, but managed not to activate her own ability.

A moment later, Lena was standing there, looking nervously at Charle. She looked like she was bracing herself for anything, whether Charle decided to punch her, yell at her, or even stab her.

However, Charle walked over to Lena, looking up at her with those shaky, skittish eyes. She hadn’t aged a day since being trapped by the Collector. “H-Hey Lena. How have you been?” She asked, and Lena flinched, as if the gentleness in her tone was perhaps the one thing she couldn’t prepare for.

“I-I’m fine, Whit--sorry, Scarlet told me that your name was Charle, right?” Lena asked, quickly catching herself from using Charle’s title rather than her name. “I’m… sorry that I--”

Before Lena could finish, Charle leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Lena. “I understand. I’m sorry that I attacked you. Compared to me trying to kill you, what you did was nothing worth staying angry.”

After saying that, she pulled back, looking at Lena. “How much of me do you remember, after you turned into me? I heard that you took over as the White Shadow in my absence.”

Lena huffed, glancing off to the side. “Not nearly as much as I’d like. I could copy your body, your powers, and even your fighting style. However, I couldn’t look into your memories at all. It was like everything you went through before we fought never happened. The only reason I even knew that you were Monda’s kid was because of the family photo you kept in your locket.”

Charle’s eyes widened at that, and she quickly looked back up at Lena. “Do you still have that? I-If you do, can I have it back?” She asked in a pleading tone. Both Scarlet and Lena knew why she’d want that. It was the only tangible evidence of who she was. Maybe even the only such evidence that existed anywhere.

In truth, she kept it on her as a constant reminder. She was always afraid that one day, her white flash would make her forget who she was herself. If that happened, she wanted something to remind herself.

Lena hesitated for a moment, before nodding. “Sure, give me just a minute. I’ve got it in my room at Olympus.” She said, before extending a hand and closing her eyes.

A few seconds later, there was a golden shimmer in her hand, and the silver locket appeared. It was a rather simple, unadorned locket, but Charle snatched it out of her hands in a motion that bordered on desperation. When she opened the locket, she saw the old picture of herself and her father, standing side by side. On the other side of the locket were the initials, C-G. They looked as if they had been carved roughly, clearly a later addition of the locket.

Charle hugged the locket to herself like the precious memento that it was, and her body finally seemed to relax. “T-Thanks, Lena.” She said in a quiet voice.

“Don’t mention it.” Lena shook her head gently, but then smiled awkwardly. “Anyways, have you decided what you want to do with yourself now? We’re the only surviving shadows now. If you wanted to, I’m sure that I could convince the boss to let you join Olympus.”

Charle hesitated, before shaking her head. “Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll do that. I know how dangerous my power is. If, even in the most remote possibility, my power activated in the presence of the Keeper, and I made him forget important information, that could be a disaster. No matter how well I control myself, there is always that faint risk. For that reason, I think it’s safer if I just stay away from him entirely.”

Although Charle knew that Scarlet was immune to her power, she couldn’t guarantee that the same would be true for the Keeper. After all, it had been proven several times in history that the Keeper was a different form of existence than the Greater Pantheon.

Knowing this, Lena didn’t try to argue, simply accepting Charle’s decision. “Sure. In that case, do you have any other plans?”

Charle thought about it, lowering her head to look at the ground. “I could… go back to working for my father? Is he still alive?”

“That old geezer?” Lena huffed. “You really think a stubborn fool like him would kick the bucket?” When Charle heard that, her lips tugged up into the smallest of smiles. “He might not have all that long left, though. A couple decades, maybe? Still, I guess from a mortal standpoint, that’s plenty of time.”

Charle nodded her head again. She knew that her father was getting on in years. Even using ki to extend his lifespan, there was a limit to how long he could last without getting an energy body. And doing so was a taboo for any member of the council of elders. “In that case, yeah, I’d like to go back to him.”

Scarlet nodded her head, before glancing upwards. “Aurivy? Send the girl home.”

Monda let out a long sigh as he sat in his office, stretching after a long day of work. His joints creaked and popped, causing him to briefly grunt. However, he looked back towards the door in surprise, moments before it opened.

Standing outside the door was a female lycan with silver hair. On her face, she wore a white mask with a black pattern. Although Monda didn’t recognize the girl immediately, he knew the mask. “White Shadow?” He asked curiously, his body tensed. Nobody had seen the White Shadow in person. At least, nobody that was alive to remember her. “Are you here to silence me?”

The girl flinched at those words, quickly shaking her head. “N-No!” She shouted, a bit too hurriedly. “I-I…” She pulled the mask off, setting it on her waist. Monda looked at the girl behind the mask, feeling the faintest pang of familiarity. “I wanted to see you again.” She said in a soft voice, approaching him.

Monda blinked at that. He knew that he had helped to raise the White Shadow, just as he did all of the shadows. Yet still, he had no recollection of her face. “Are you about to go on a dangerous mission?”

Again, the White Shadow shook her head, stepping closer. She quickly held out her fist, and Monda flinched back, as if thinking she was going to strike him. However, when she partially opened her hand, a silver locket fell from it and opened. Monda looked at the locket, his eyes wide as he saw the picture inside, as well as the engraved initials. “Are you…?”

The White Shadow bit her lip, nodding her head. “My name is Charle Grove. I-I couldn’t tell you before, because you always forgot me. But I can control it now. So… I’m home, dad…”