An Unwelcome Hero - shadow slave

Chiron had no idea how Elbaf would cover up his slaughter of thousands of Aranai civilians, but that was none of his concern. He didn't care about the situation, as he would be long gone from this nightmare before it even becomes an issue for him. Rather than that, he thought more about his gains and losses from his newest venture.

*5 awakened and absolutely nothing! How bad is my luck. Well, I got a powerful item like Assassin's rags on my first ever kill, so my luck is probably bone dry.*

5, that's how many awakened Chiron had killed in the rampage he went on. He hadn't checked his memories, but he knew for a fact he didn't get any from them, as he made sure to check those at least. From this entire ordeal, he had gotten quite a few new ones, but only one soldier echo and most of the equipment he had gained from civilians were absolutely worthless. At most, they can be worn as casual clothes, but they were worth nothing for combatants and Chiron.

Echo: 1+3=4

Utility: 19+128=147

Armour: 9+50=59

Weapons: 7+48=55

Charm: 8+70=78

The Echo Elbaf had killed was replaced by a new soldier, who became one of the rare ones with three attributes. Along with that echo, he had gotten two civilian Echos, which were even more worthless than two attribute soldiers.

They were a weak human butcher with only a single attribute, the standard human [conscious]. The other was even worse, it was of a little girl, who had no attributes and was barely anything worth mentioning, comfortably and could be called the most worthless Echo in existence. The last one was called hardworking father, but it was a simple conscious human, with a single additional attribute, that made it takes less rests.

Considering how Echoes don't need sleep or food or rest, just soul essence, this echo was just as useless as the butcher. Even less maybe, as the butcher doesn't have extra strings weaved onto it, that do nothing.

While checking on said loot, Chiron finally found his team of Echos in an alley, as they stopped moving and were only redirecting and defending from soldier attacks. As he appeared, they stood at attention and he addressed them directly "At ease, men! We have won and can return to our homeland!"

The Echos didn't understand what Chiron meant, but they instantly lowered their weapons and pumped their fists into the air, following Sean's example, and all approached Chiron, while the soldiers around them didn't understand exactly what happened, but they assumed their general had forced them to surrender and didn't dare attack.

Echo: [Sean].

Echo Type: monster.

Echo Core: dormant.

Echo Attributes: [Humane], [Spearman+], [dormant], {Spear Of The Wanted}

Echo Description: [A talented young man, who was thrown at an unbreakable pillar by the people he swore to protect, just to see if the pillar would crack eventually. Swearing brotherhood to the pillar and healing him has cost him said oath.]

*Sean changed again. How interesting. Is it just flavour text or does it have meaning? Does the description indicate how far he has grown? Is the description becoming shorter better or worse? Sean is changing and my impatient attribute is showing, as I want to know what's up with him!*

Chiron wondered this mystery of an Echo. He wasn't allowed to see the description of the attributes and he didn't have knowledge of runes to know what the specific rune to express these attributes meant. If he did, he would most certainly be able to crack the secrets of Sean.

He kept pondering on possibilities, as he led his echoes to Elbaf's office, where they agreed to be. He inconspicuously summoned his new soldier and had him discretely replace the one Elbaf had previously destroyed, hoping no one had an accurate count of his army. On the way there, he silently released the three civilian echoes discreetly and commanded them to return to their normal lives.

The little girl Echo seemed to be somewhat scared of Sean, but besides that they nodded their heads and dispersed. The man seemed to have adopted the little girl Echo, as he decided to take it with it. "*Huh. A gay couple with a little girl child, a Catholic's worst nightmare!* You three are a family, live and work together. Do something with the girl, I don't care! Just keep living a normal life as a family of three!"

They nodded and quickly dispersed. The group of twenty-one men continued the journey and reached Elbaf's office soon after and all entered in formation. This was the place Chiron told Elbaf he would meet him at to surprise him with something amazing and he truly delivered. Elbaf could barely believe his own eyes, as he stared at the seven heavily armed men and the thirteen mismatched soldiers and couldn't understand how they had even survived.

Chiron smirked and declared haughtily, "They are all awakened and soldiers I trained myself! While at the early stages of awakening, their power is nothing to scoff at! Individually they are strong, but their true power is teamwork. They can understand each other without verbal communication and have special signals only they know. The gear is nothing impressive, but I have personally acquired all of that! See him."

Chiron directed Elbaf's attention towards Sean. "This big boy over here is the power. His name is Sean and he is the single most talented spearman I have ever met. Give him some good equipment, a bit more training and he is good enough to even kill that swordsman you used to ferry around! They wouldn't stand a chance against me or you, even all twenty of them at once, but they are bundles of POTENTIAL!"

Elbaf's eye twitches at the reminder of his dead retainer and the absurdity of how Chiron, a simple nobody, had managed to acquire a cohort of twenty skilled awakened. "As we agreed, you will join my garrison and we will cooperate in managing this fortress together. I will have some of our spies spread news of your attack and exaggerate it, so Analand marches at us and weakens their border a bit."

Elbaf explained what he had planned as a cover-up, but what caught Chiron's attention was what he said next. "How do you intend to proceed? Do you wish to rejoin the Guardian Corps? Or do you want to be an independent force and spread the fire and acceleration techniques you possess? Her holiness, the queen, has made a formal request for all ascended to spread their school of skills and create legacies, but this isn't something you need to worry about, as I can already see you have done enough in that matter with these twenty."

Chiron scratched his chin and said his plan in its true, naked truthfulness.

"I want to go back to Analand and secretly assassinate its Hierarchy. I AM an ascended of "Analand" now, technically at least, so if you can get me over the border without revealing our affiliation, I can join them and demand a meeting with the big shots of Analand, where I will assassinate them and then use my ability to rush back here after killing two or three of them or bringing a city or two to its knees. What do you think of this plan?"