Polymath Redux

Chapter 53: Secret War (6): Full Force Fray

"W- We'll be safe here, r- right?"

Despite his long and bloodied career as the Minister of War for Xagontetia, Pierre Granate's voice carried with it tones reminiscent to that of a frightened child. As the black curtains drew closer towards his life his mind only accentuated the fear that was Phantom. Unable to cease the trembling his nights were filled with violent awakenings from nightmares; it was a pathetic sight for a man who had built up his entire legacy upon the blood of others. However it wasn't as though there wasn't any precedent for his fears; the group he represented, the Wayfarer Council was completely annihilated at this point.

"Safe? As long as Phantom is after your life there's no way it would be safe. However this plan will grant you the greatest chance of your survival that is all you can ever hope for."

Prince Leo replied in a cold tone; he had gotten tired of this one sided game of cat and mouse. The truth of the matter was that this entire plan was not really for the benefit or protection of Pierre Granate but for the expressed purpose of 'defeating' Phantom. 'I commend you for bringing me to this point, Phantom', he thought to himself as a cold hearted smile etched across his face.

Several days had passed since they had confirmed the death of Del Granate and a letter was addressed to the Prince from Belita Lambert that she would be leaving the country. At this point the recovery of the underground council was impossible and of course the prince himself had no real desire to do so now that things have proceeded this far. For now his primary goal was the capture or defeat of Phantom, and to this end he had laid a special trap.

A head on fight with Phantom would be too difficult with the minuscule powers of the anti-Phantom task force, thus the Prince had decided to gather more suitable fighters. In order to accomplish this they had brought Pierre Granate to an isolated manor far from the city. Surrounded by forests on all fronts that were inhabited by nothing but the local wildlife and low level demons, this was the perfect place to confront Phantom with no fear of collateral damage.

There was also another reason why the Prince had decided upon such an isolated location and that was because of the company he had decided to bring along for this mission. They weren't typical fighters, mercenaries, bodyguards or even specialists of any kind but 'Heroes'. Not only in namesake but they were true heroes selected by their country's gods and even carried sacred weapons of their own. It would only complicate matters if foreign heroes decided to suddenly barge into Xagontetia.

Each country had their own representative deity and a hero who fought in that god's name. This was also the primary reason why the Prince had thought that there could be two Heroes chosen by Xagon, because there really was more than one hero in the world.

"Don't worry old man, no matter how powerful this 'Phantom' is there's no possible way he could defeat three heroes at the same time."

As Petra spoke she started to polish her ornate looking, dual black and white daggers. The truth was that Petra too was a hero of a different country; it was simply that she was not granted the permission to user her Sacred Daggers until now thus she had been fighting as a normal person. However now that she had her Sacred Weapon in had she was no longer a normal person, but a true Hero, even her personality had shifted slightly, becoming more arrogant and brash.

"Hee~ I didn't know that other countries had heroes as well. What country are you from Ms Petra?"

Tau who had tagged along as he was needed to reclaim the Sacred Sword asked.

"I am, well all of us are from the Xedian Federation. Originally the northern continent of Xedian was divided into three different countries but to cut a long story short, after centuries of strife they eventually came to an impasse and decided to merge into a super-country. Thus, even though we're technically a single country we have three different gods and three heroes."