Strangely no Elder came forward to admit to causing the crime In the aftermath the Head Elder instituted a brutal inquisition at first secret but then increasingly public as they could not locate the culprit The Endless Heat Style even formerly apologized to Aemont granting him an honorary discipleship for him and his sons But it was too late Aemont would never in his life return to the Central Region
So Aemont settled in the Northern Region and seemed content to settle down and live a peaceful life But two things nagged at him refusing to let him retire First the situation on the frontlines turned sour So sour that it was believed for a long time that Central Region would finally commit a few Pontiff level Spear Users Second a string of strange deaths in the surrounding area to Aemont of monsters livestock and even other people led him to believe that the culprit behind his lover’s murder had followed them But the culprit was a coward and refused to move while Aemont remained protecting his sons
For two years as the condition on the Frontlines deteriorated Finally seeming to break under the stress of the realization strange antagonist wouldn’t strike while he was there and his will eroded by the pleas of his former comrades Aemont made a decision he would leave his sons under the protection of some of his powerful friends he had made in the North and return to the frontlines in the Western Region
Although they were only one year apart Pronto and Shal were very different in their development Pronto was hale and healthy seemingly developing at an impossible rate Meanwhile Shal was weak and uncoordinated with the body of a toddler even though he was almost 8 years old So Shal was sent to a Style in the Northern Region affiliated with the Endless Heat Style where Aemont knew he would be cared for Meanwhile Pronto went to stay with the powerful Haelthing who would aid in his spear instruction while Shal was gone
Years passed and Aemont began to return from the frontlines less and less His sons grew Shal seeming to finally settle in and grow properly becoming a talented if mean tempered youth Meanwhile Pronto grew more and more wild and powerful his moods becoming violent And at the same time there started to be some very strange rumors going around about Haelthing That there were numerous disappearances among people traveling through the lands his Style controlled That he was practicing a very forbidden sort of magic there
That he had become a Devourer who consumed the lives of others in order to refine pure Aether from them Or as the system refers to it Haelthing had become a Heretic
Randidly blinked That’s possible Devouring someone else for Aether
Artisan Dwei waved a hand Well that is what the story says At least the popular versions Others have the Devourer doing other things but it all involved an evil magic transported here from one of the inner Cohorts And it all involved sacrifice to power it
Chapter 174
So anyway while his one son was slowly being warped by exposure to the Devourer and the other was growing up slowly both with a barely present father Aemont continued to fight on the frontlines And he won and won and won Perhaps the story wouldn’t have ended so tragically otherwise but Aemont was a profoundly competent spear user With just the one skill he was acknowledged as reaching the Adept level and given a promotion and control over a larger group of men
That was the worst fighting the front lines had ever seen And Aemont was the reaper who kept back the hordes But it wasn’t enough We were still losing At that point the central region did demand its powerful Styles send Pontiffs out to push back the enemies Because some of those sent to his area were from the Endless Heat Style Aemont took his long overdue break returning to his sons
He stopped briefly in to see Shal and the people there urged him to investigate Haelthing There were deaths and disappearances so much so that Haelthing’s Style was almost destroyed from fear and defections Aemont’s face darkened but he said nothing Instead he simply had a long talk with Shal
Aemont stayed with Shal for several days giving him very specific pointers about spear use Then Aemont went to see Healthing It is not known what they exactly talked about but is rumored that although Aemont confront Haelthing he was tempted and distracted Even his son Pronto whose mental illness was growing increasingly noticeable could not distract from the goal that consumed Aemont perhaps in his eyes the army was his new family And for that family he needed strength
So when Haelthing offered the use of his isolation matrix Aemont accepted For 6 days he stayed within meditating and when he emerged he was a changed man When he stepped out into the air shrieking ghost flowed around him The spectre of death lingered in his shadow The lightest touch of Aemont could steal away one’s life from weak opponents The years of fighting on the frontlines watching allies and enemies die in droves it had paid dividends in a way For Aemont had spent 6 days in that formation slowly refining the Aether that had embedded itself within him for 20 years
He had become the Spear Phantom
His return to the frontlines was as a walking Catastrophe He destroyed the resistance of the enemies on the frontlines Beneath the Pontiffs sent from the Central Region Aemont very quickly became the number 1 spear user on the Western front
But he was recalled from the frontlines by news that could pierce his martial heart his son Pronto had fled from Haelthing’s care wounded and blubbering about evil skills and forbidden rites So with a heavy heart Aemont returned Pronto had fled to Shal’s caretakers where he refused to talk with anyone other than his family preferring to lock himself in his room refusing to take visitors When he arrived Aemont interviewed both his sons for Shal had been the one to find Pronto in the wilderness and heard the truth for himself Then he waited for Pronto to recover and because he was a strong young man in his own right at this point the two of them then went to the lair of the Devourer for vengeance
Before he left he gave to Shal a chest and a book which was all the belongings that Aemont owned aside from a sizeable amount of pay that was uncollected from the army and formerly established the Spear Phantom Style naming his sons Pronto and Shal as his heirs For a few weeks he trained Shal in the Spear Phantom Style its moves and intricacies Then he proceeded with the eldest son to disappear off the face of the world
The area around Haelthing’s lair grew to be a zone forbidden for travel Some local powers sent scouts in but none returned Still if one did not enter into the zone nothing happened The zone was not spreading and no monsters wandered out of that area either As the local powers were busy sending spear users to reinforce the front lines they opted to leave it alone for now despite the danger So the land was just avoided for 5 years The only reason that 5 years ended was Shal he marched into the base and slaughtered Haelthing Unfortunately he found his father and brother had already been slain
Or at least that is what people originally thought and why he was so widely heralded in the initial few years after he returned bearing the spear of Haelthing the Devourer But when experts went to investigate they discovered that it appeared that Haelthing had been dead for years likely by the hand of Aemont There had been a great battle sure and there was a body there but it was so mutilated that it was impossible to tell who it was And the body of Aemont the war hero was also discovered peaceful and undisturbed as if he was simply taking a nap It was like his very life had been stolen from him