>>5512238But as you emerge into the midday sunshine, squinting against it to scan the skies, you see a vaguely person-shaped object approaching. Not the village, but YOUR home! Immediately you Ascend, going full power and surging up into the sky to draw the being's attention away from your home and onto you. Which clearly works, the being altering course for you immediately. You continue flying higher while moving towards the being, getting your home out of range of a potential battle.
As the unknown being approaches, you notice several things. First, you don't sense any ki whatsoever from the humanoid form of the armor whatsoever. Meaning that it's either and undead or a wholly divine being. Second, while the armored form and the weapons floating around it are clearly magical, or at least enchanted, you don't sense any sort of magical energy welling up from within the armor. Meaning that the user of this armor either isn't a magic caster themselves and is just using enchanted and/or magical gear, or they're on a level equal to the so-called Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown, whose magic you couldn't really sense either. And third, as you stop midair, the shining armored-form slows its approach, slowing to a stop dozens of yards from you. Which means it isn't either a mindless monster or someone out for vengeance against you. At least, not blindly out for your head.
“That's close enough, stranger.” you tell the armored form, not threatening it with your weapons just yet. “Who are you, and why are you here?”
“You must be the one known as the Crystal Sage.” the armored figure says, as despite it stopping the weapons continue orbiting around it. Almost as if they have minds of their own. Immediately you notice that the being doesn't give its name, instead it goes only into what it is here for. “I've heard that you managed to repel the Sorcerer King and his undead army single-handedly.”
“So what if I have?” you reply noncommittally. Something's off with this being, especially with how its body hasn't moved. The only movement has been from the weapons themselves spinning around the armored form, in fact his chest isn't rising or falling from breathing, the figure unnaturally still. But it isn't radiating with necromantic energy, so it probably isn't an undead being. A construct perhaps? “What business is that of yours, nameless stranger?”
“Have you heard of the Re-Estize Kingdom?” the armored figure asks, you shaking your head after a moment's thought. “It was destroyed last year by the Sorcerer King's forces in a completely unjustified invasion. Over four hundred thousand men were slaughtered without quarter trying to defend their homeland, cities burned to the ground with few survivors escaping to other lands.
