Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (44 page)

Lycus's wolf like grin showed
his teeth. “Your humiliation in front of the tirones gives them a
lesson in caution. That is more than enough for me.”

∞

Moments later, Terra joined
others at a large salient. Other tirones gathered. Soon the edge of
the salient filled with spectators. Terra thought the entire Academy
must be there. A few other legionnaires watched as well, including
Chih.

The salient then set itself to
a flat barren field with scattered bush to break up the rocks and
dirt.

Lycus stood in the center
while Geres's teammates surrounded Lycus. Geres and his three
companions then drew their aeon edges. Like Alya's, theirs were
silver in color unlike the lead weighted dull gray versions Terra and
the other tirones carried. Each aeon edge had a different
configuration than the others. Then Cerberus drew his aeon edge.

It was the first time Terra
had seen Lycus's aeon edge, Cerberus, in any detail. Like the other
aeon edges, the polished silver reflected the light of the sun while
held. Unlike the other aeon edges Terra had seen, three timecores
glowed blue just above the hilt as Lycus loaded a stasis cell clip.
Cerberus was more jagged in design than the one that Geres held. The
toothed edge reminded Terra of a wolf's maw.

Neither saluted the other.

Geres and his team attacked.
Terra had to Speed her vision to keep up. True to his word, Lycus
waited until Geres swung first with his blade. Lycus blocked with his
shieldwatch before moving to counter the other Legionnaires who moved
in to support Geres. When all combatants drew close, even Terra's
Sped vision did her little good.

The ebb and flow of this
battle differed completely from the one she had seen earlier. Now
both sides moved at a blinding speed. Flashes of blue filled the
salient and each blast ripped up the ground, sending chunks flying
into the air. Geres and his team did not hold back. They used aeon
edge bursts in tune with their coordinated strikes, trying to
overwhelm Lycus. Lycus weaved around the attacks with ease before
cutting down one Legionnaire. He yelled as he hit the ground with a
large swath of his chest now in stasis.

The three remaining
Legionnaires shifted formation and attacked again from three
different points. Again, Lycus weaved out of the attack, cutting down
another before moving.

Geres cursed. He had lost half
of his team within seconds.

Terra sensed the battle's flow
now. Lycus toyed with Geres just as he had done with her during the
Survival Test. This Trial of Blades was nothing like how the tirones
fought with one another. It made most of her sparring sessions seem
like schoolyard slap fights. Geres was a real legionnaire, his
movements precise and controlled. He and his companions were skilled
wielders of their aeon edges and used them in perfect combination
with a shieldwatch. In spite of this they still were nowhere near
Lycus's level of skill. He was untouchable.

Alya's
fight in the library had been like poetry. She had moved like a wind
through chimes. Lycus moved like a hungry wolf eager to taste blood.
Blood would have decorated the salient if not for the non-lethal
setting for the duelists' aeon edges.

Geres and his remaining
companion drew up for a final attack. They struck, unleashing a
flurry of bursts from their aeon edges. Lycus then stepped out of the
dust and smoke and swung his aeon edge once. It unleashed three
powerful blasts that tore the surrounding ground apart and sent Geres
and his final teammate flying back. When the dust cleared, Lycus
stood alone on a crater filled salient, grinning a toothy vicious
smile.

Lycus put his boot on Geres's
chest. “This is an important lesson!” he shouted to the tirones.

The gathered crowd remained
silent.

Lycus held his snarl while
speaking in a low venomous tone that carried over the salient. “Never
fight a Legendary Blade.”

∞

“So which Legendary Blade do
you think is the best?” a tiro said in a low tone next to Terra.
She turned her attention from the large glass window that showed snow
covered grounds outside to the tirones next to her.

Terra had made her way to
class after the Trial of Blades. Other tirones engaged in
conversation while they waited for Shani to start the class. Lycus's
duel had sparked a discussion about the Legendary Blades. Terra
listened in on their conservation while keeping a wary gaze for
Centurion Shani who hadn't showed up yet.

“Easy,” the other tiro
said. “Silverwind is the best, no contest.”

“What makes you think that?”

“She has the most confirmed
kills.”

Terra scowled, remembering
Lycus's words about Alya. Those words still bothered her. She had
looked up the historical records, but they detailed Alya's service
record in broad strokes. She found a single paragraph about Saturnian
war crimes, though there were several whole books on Kalian
atrocities which, in Terra's opinion, seemed inflated in severity.

“Yeah, but that was mostly
Kalians. I'm going with the sixth blade, Kairos. She killed the most
Faceless, and those things are tough.”

“Kairos is MIA. She doesn't
count.”

“Okay. Then who do you think
could beat Cerberus then? I mean we got to see him in action today.”

“Endymion might. He used to
be a Legendary Blade.”

“No one has seen him fight
in centuries though. I would still go with Silverwind. Kairos could,
but like I said she is MIA. Maybe Atlas too.”

“Atlas? He's slow.”

“Only his maneuvering, not
his attack speed. Come on! His aeon edge is bigger than me.”

“What about Deucalion of the
Four Blades?”

“He's good. He could match
Cerberus's speed. Cerberus has more power though because of the three
timecores.”

“Pythia could beat him.
She's a Sybil. She could see his moves before he made them.”

“She's got lower stats in
everything else though.”

Zaid turned around in his seat
to face the arguing tirones. He was the only one of Terra's strike
team that had caught up to her in academics. “You can't tell who
will win a battle by looking at numbers alone. War is not a game.
Besides, someone did defeat Lycus Cerberus.”

Terra turned to Zaid. “Who?”

Zaid looked at Terra. “General
Reva. We studied her strategies in class a few days ago.”

Terra struggled to recall that
name. “I remember now. Reva was a famous Kalian general during the
First Temporal War. She defeated Cerberus during a duel with her at
the Battle of Sighs. She's still on the Aeon Legion's most wanted
list.”

“Good, Tiro Mason,” Shani
said, walking into the classroom. “Can you tell me about the
Singularity Thief as well?”

Terra pressed her lips
together. As usual, Shani started off class by putting Terra on the
spot. “The Singularity Thief, called such because they often
attempt to steal singularity artifacts. He or she can be identified
by the distinctive mask they wear. There have been numerous
Singularity Thieves throughout the centuries and though some have
been killed, none have ever been successfully captured. Although each
Singularity Thief works alone, it's suspected that a third party
trains and equips them and is likely the benefactor of the stolen
artifacts. Standard equipment comprises of a shieldwatch and two aeon
edged daggers. Besides standard gear, they have also use a wide
variety of singularity technology adapted to the Thief's current
mission.”

“That was surprisingly
comprehensive. Now I have to give you two points,” Shani said, as
though it wasn't fair. “I suppose I will have start calling on
someone else at the beginning of class to make a point about
ignorance. You seem to be keeping up with my curriculum.”

Terra grinned, but this
deepened Shani's scowl.

Shani then looked over Terra
with a critical expression. “Tiro Mason, minus one point for an
untidy uniform.”

Terra looked down to her
uniform. It was loose again.

“Be sure to fix that,”
Shani said before turning to start the day's lessons.

Terra clinched her fists as
she debated with herself. After a moment, she decided to risk it.
“Centurion Shani?”

Shani turned to Terra and
glowered. “Stop showing off, Tiro Mason!”

“I have a question.”

Shani's scowl disappeared.
“What is it?”

Terra spoke in a slow even
tone. “I want to know about the Legendary Blades' war records in
the First Temporal War.”

A few nods came from the other
tirones. The recent duel had sparked interest in the Legendary
Blades, including Lycus, wielder of Cerberus.

Shani's expression remained
impassive. “The official archives in the strategy study should have
that information. There is no need for me to cover this subject in
class.”

Terra took a deep breath. “I
looked at the official archives, but they did not go into the detail
I require. I wanted to know about war crimes.”

Shani stood with hands on
hips. Then she nodded. “Ah. I think I understand, Tiro Mason. If
what was said during your interrogation in the Survival Test bothers
you, then ask Praetor Lycus in person. I will not speak ill of him
behind his back. He has earned that much respect from me. Besides, I
was not there for the First Temporal War and neither were you. We
have no place to pass judgment on them.”

Terra's mouth hung open.
Respect? The only thing Lycus had earned from anyone was fear.

She wasn't the only one
surprised by this loyalty. “But he's such a monster,” one tiro
said in a hushed voice. Terra didn't see who.

Shani turned, searching the
class with a narrowed gaze. “Who said that?”

Everyone remained silent.

A muscle in Shani's jaw
twitched. “Praetor Lycus is your commanding officer. You will show
him your respect. You owe him more than you think!”

Terra rolled her eyes.

Shani snapped her glare back
to Terra. “I saw that, Tiro Mason! You think Lycus is bad? Before
he became head of this training program, things were a lot more
brutal!”

One corner of Terra's lip
curled. “With all due respect, centurion, I find that hard to
believe.”

Shani's eyes narrowed. “There
was time in the Legion when a more ruthless doctrine was in place.
New recruits fought to the death, the weak killed without mercy.
Instead of points we had executions for poor performance. Showing
emotions or helping others was forbidden. Those who survived became
emotionless killing machines.”

“So, perfect soldiers?”
Zaid said in a contemptuous tone.

Shani shook her head. “No.
They were horrible. The only thing they were good at, other than
having psychological breakdowns, was committing war crimes. We had
many of our more embarrassing defeats during that time. Then Lycus
came in. He changed things. He stopped this Academy from churning out
broken soldiers and instead made it forge heroes. His training
program produced many excellent legionnaires, including Kairos. So
long as Lycus remains true to his vision for the Legion then I will
not allow a bunch of lowly tirones to muddy his name with their own
ignorance.”