The Last Whisperer

20 | Screwed To The Bones~

"Remember to behave, Cale. I've had enough of cleaning after your messes."

"Don't you act like my mother, Maki." Cale scoffed and looked away. "And I'm not so brainless to cause a ruckus in the training grounds."

"But you would rather do it during the conference," Maki said, reminding Cale of the incident back in the conference room, when he questioned Eith's eligibility in the League in front of the crown prince.

Cale looked offended. He opened his mouth to say something but stuttered. "Th-That was just me being careful. The Ivy League has my best interests at—"

"Yeah, sure," Maki cut him off. He had already heard all of Cale's excuses by now. Why can't he just admit that he was born a prick?

Cale glared at him from the side. He lifted his arms back and unsheathed the double swords on his back. He positioned himself. "Let's duel. You and I. Right now."

Cale was a dual sword wielder. Both of his swords were a family heirloom of the Mortisse House, passed down for generations—glinting silver blades, a spiraling, ribbed hilt with a green moonstone gem encrusted to each. It had the words Honor and Duty carved on the flat sides of the blades.

Maki internally sighed. "Combat isn't my specialty, and you know that."

They were in Crescent Peak's training grounds—a large courtyard that was located at the back of the Cerulean Palace. They were at the edge of Crescent Peak; if they went any further, they would fall down to the sea and get swallowed by the waves.

"Well, you must be good enough to be named the second most powerful mage in the world," Cale said, swords still in both hands.

Maki sighed. "Yes, but I'm an exorcist." Maki explained it to him as if he were talking to a child. "You do know what that means, right? I exorcise demonic creatures such as the kreggs."

He held up the black book he always carried around with him to remind Cale. It was a thick volume that had a black cover and a black spine. It had a chain that connected it to Maki's belt, and a latch that kept the book closed and secured. Much like Cale's dual greenstone swords, the Black Book was a Grifferdean family heirloom that was passed down for generations.

"Can I touch it?" Cale reached a finger to do so at the same time Maki hid the book from him.

"Absolutely not!"

"I just wanna—"

"You don't understand, do you? The Black Book is an artifact of exorcism and is the only one in existence. Do you realize how many kreggs are stored inside of this?!"

Maki put the book back into its leather parcel as he lectured Cale. "One wrong move and you could unleash the hundreds of kreggs that my ancestors have stored in here."

The Grifferdean family—Maki's family—was a family entrusted to keepsake the Black Book for exorcism. It allowed them to use the kreggs for their own use once they have successfully killed and exorcised the dark spirit of the kregg, then the Black Book would be the storage of those dark spirits. Unlike the rest of the Ivy League, Maki did not use any moonstones.

The reason why Maki was the second most powerful mage—with Nishian Peritile as the first most powerful—was mainly because of the Black Book. It required years of training and immense kalu power before it was officially handed to him. If it were given to a slightly less groomed person, it would have led to something called 'spirit possession'. The holder of the Black Book would have been overtaken by dark spirits and led down to an evil path.

"So, no," Maki said. "No touching of the Black Book. I just told you to behave yourself."

Cale raked his fingers through his red hair. "Dammit. I wasn't intending to flip it open. I just wanted to feel the material."