Charm Master: Astrel Grey

Charm Master: Astrel Grey Chapter 1: Celestial Empire ‘Drip…drip…drip’ Warm viscous drops of blood dripped down the broken stone pathway. Rattled breaths and harsh coughs were stifled in her chest as Ashtal bit her lips to swallow down the glaring sounds coming from her throat. Her bare feet touching the cold, uneven, hard ground, bringing a shiver up her spine from every step she took. Sharp stones pricked her delicate toes, and a trail of blood stained her footsteps red. Any sound could alert her pursuers, so she took off her shoes the moment she planned her escape. Her hands are clutching the base of her waist. But bright red blood kept oozing down from the mangled white skin, with some blackened burned flesh and small ice crystals hanging at the edges of the wound, a victim of both a sword strike and a spirit flame attack. And it is from the hands of her father and brother, no less. “How vicious…” Ashtal mumbled with a mocking smile on her pale lips. Her black pupils took in the quiet surroundings, quickly deciding on turning left, past an abandoned manor near the mountain area, just outside the capital city of the empire. This place was forty minutes away from her manor, but such distance doesn’t matter to a Sword Path and Fire Path master like her father and brother. “Was it a good thing I bought and lived in a manor on the outskirts of the city?” If not, then she might not even be able to escape. She did not expect that a simple celebration of her bestowment of the Grandmaster title would lead to a chase to end her life. The warmth she felt when her family decided to celebrate her achievement at her manor, without the glamour and luxury at the center of the city, now all felt ridiculous. Thick clouds marred the dark blue skies, blocking the lights of the floating sun spheres covering the sky domain territory of the Neon Celestial Empire. The gloomy weather provided the perfect cover for an escape. Ashtal dragged her heavy legs, each step shuddering from laborious breaths. The thorny bushes and branches whipped against her porcelain skin, blood smearing the leaves, but pain had already been pushed at the back of her mind. The only thing on her mind right now is to survive, get back to the Soul Charms Palace, recuperate and return to let her family pay back this debt of blood. Every ticking second felt like years, cold sweat flowed down the sides of her cheeks, but each step against the wind whistling past her ear brought her closer to survival. Relief even flooded her as she entered the dark maws of the mountain forest in front of her. The arches of trees reach over twenty meters up the horizon, blanketing the ground with its shadows, and in the cover of the night, even the littlest drop of her blood echoes further along the deep unknown path. Her only source of light is Cosmara, the dragon jade pendant she wore on her neck. This is a celestial treasure with its own natural space, and if she is not wrong, Cosmara might be one of the reasons for the betrayal of her closest of kin. With her mind preoccupied with trudging through the mess of roots and stones on the forest floor, Ashtal was late to notice the surge of wind coming from behind her. A broadsword shining with a metallic sheen encased in a white churning aura. The broadsword, with blood drying up on its gleaming tips, flew raising up a burst of wind, blasting past the rotten leaves and soil in its path, cracks formed on the ground and the sleeping forest awakened with panic. Small animals and insects scurried away from the commotion, their cries creating harsh and sharp ear-piercing noises. Trailing behind the broadsword, a two-meter-tall blue spirit fire flicking tongues of flames all over its path, gliding swiftly bringing a blast of cold wind, black scorched marks painted the ground, while frozen fractals of dust, leaves, and soil glittered in the dark shades of the trees. Ashtal turned, her left hand raised defensively as her fingers moved in a mysterious pattern, creating afterimages as a golden six-symbol rune materialized and floated in a circular motion on the space between her and coming assailants. The golden six-symbol rune defense charm formed a sturdy transparent barrier with six ten-meter-wide rolling chains stacked up together around it. “Humph! Do you think a puny six-symbol rune defense charm could stop our combined attacks?” A voice filled with sarcasm and arrogance rang in the air. The familiar voice that has always been gentle and warm in her memories, seems to have become an illusion. Ashtal could not believe that her own biological father could treat her like this. Is she not good enough? She wasn’t even a useless daughter, but a renowned and genius Charm Path Grandmaster! The youngest of her time! Even without those titles, how could they forfeit their familial bonds so easily? She wasn’t given any time to grieve and hate, as her hastily made defense charm collided with the broadsword and spirit fire. A flash of blinding white light and a deafening silence ensued. A detonating blast shook the ground, raising a cloud of dust. The trees swayed, and the ones closest to the explosion were blown off with shattered trunks and splinters flying off everywhere. The aftershock pushed Ashtal off her feet, and her petite body soared a few meters before falling down heavily on a white slope. Blood spurted from her mouth as the impact sent a shock to her internal organs. Her coughs reverberated in the dark forest, further causing the wound on her waist to open as blood trickled down like a stream, painting the pale stone red. Feeling the bone-breaking pain and the speed of her blood leaving her body, she could see the materializing tentacles of death energy embracing her. Ashtal did not expect that she would be forced to this extent, on the verge of death, struggling with something as simple as breathing. The youngest Charm Path Grandmaster of her time could only draw a six-symbol defense charm which is not even a tenth of her abilities. She glanced down at the open wound at the base of her waist. The burning cold sensation of her brother’s spirit fire is slowly coursing in her veins, freezing the circulation of her immortal energy. And if her guess is correct, the broadsword of her father is laced with immortal slumber poison, a poison that paralyzes the immortal energy in one’s body. These two measures formed a barrier that disrupted the cycle of her immortal energy, rendering her abilities as mere child’s play against two unharmed enemies. Two sounds of footsteps slowly inched near, their unbridled steps even drowned out the ringing sound in her ears. Ashtal laboriously raised her upper body, faint blue veins bulged on the back of her pale-white hands. She stared straight ahead at the figures of two men, walking out of the cloud of dust at the center of the explosion. The man with gold-rimmed glasses resting on his nose, and wearing an intricate suit with an insignia of a white wolf howling to the heavens embroidered on his left sleeve is her father. The broadsword he is stroking lovingly with his fingers is the same one that he plunged into Ashtal’s body an hour ago, on her own manor, with her closest relatives watching coldly on the sidelines. And the taller man at the back with a gentle smile playing on his lips, surrounded by a cluster of blue flames is her only brother. How could she not have known the many faces that they have? The insignia of the Great Marquis Vin family really lived up to its name. They are both white-eyed wolves. Did they only play the warm family because of the worth that she brings to the family? And maybe, now that they have shown their true colors, something must be worth twice or thrice as the benefit that she brings to the Marquis Vin family to force their hand. “Oh, don’t look at us like that, dear little sister.” A vile vomit-inducing smile destroyed the seemingly perpetual gentle smile on her elder brother’s face. “We would not have done this if our contractor did not give us a really tempting number of resources, and it is just in exchange for your head and some of your possessions.” “It was really cost-effective.” Ashtal swallowed the blood rising up the back of her throat. It’s ironic how she did not feel the least bit relieved at finally seeing the true face of her brother. Only endless despair swam in the depths of her eyes, as countless warm memories of her brother popped up in her mind and slowly cracked like broken glass. Was she only living in a drawn-up lie that could easily be erased by this so-called family? “How pitiful…” As the youngest charm path Grandmaster of her time, how can she be so pitiful? “Hmm, what are you mumbling about?” Akor Vin squinted his eyes, and the blue spirit flame floating around his body fluctuated with vigilance. Although Ashtal looked like she was on the verge of death, her brother did not forget to keep up his vigilance, mainly due to her title as the youngest Charm Path Grandmaster. There is no denying that Ashtal is a once in a millennium genius of the celestial empire. Ashtal raised her blood-stained face. Her sickly-pale skin contrasted heavily to the blood-red liquid marring her features. Her lips curled upwards little by little, raising a bewitching smile, like thousands of red roses blossoming under the moonlit stars. A chill climbed up their backs as a bad premonition rang the alarms in Marquis Vin and Akor Vin’s minds as they rushed straight to Ashtal’s position. White aura exploded on Marquis Vin’s broadsword, and Akor Vin’s blue spirit flames rose up into a big wave to swoop down on Ashtal. But before their attacks could leave their side, Ashtal’s skin shone with brilliant golden lights. Dense mystic runes materialized above and sank down on her skin; thousands, hundred thousand, and even millions stacked up and melded into her being. “Forbidden Soul Charm: Immortal Wish.” Crystal clear cracks soon formed on her skin, and the dense immortal energy of the surroundings surged inside her body like a tide. “No! Stop her at all cost!” Marquis Vin exclaimed in horror at the sight of the world-ending scenery in front of him. Fierce winds circled around her, and as soon as the last rune melded into Ashtal’s body, a sharp golden light cut through the heavens above, as a thunderous explosion of immortal energy laid waste to the area thousands of kilometers around her. The mountains shook, and the sky domain territory of the celestial empire suffered so terrifying damage that half of the floating sun sphere of the empire shut down, rendering a fall of darkness to half of its territory. News spread far and wide, and normal citizens were only privy to a screened information of the truth. Three mountains were wiped off the face of the Neon celestial empire, and along it was the news of the death of the Marquis of the Vin family, his only son and only daughter.