The kitchen was the most chaotic it has ever been in the two years Lapsa has been with the Ayuna's. Today was the day of the party and Lapsa's heart felt like in any minute it would jump through his throat and out his body.

Lapsa wasn't really involved with the cooking, but he was involved with the preparations and delivery. As he was moving a cart load of food into the grand hall he passed by two Ayunas'.

He overhead the two of them talking about the arrival of Onyx's cousins from the Gemma family.

The Gemma family was the same family mistress Amethyst came from, and was where she resided for the years she was gone.

Onyx happily greeted his cousins at the gate, but Riley on the other hand, stayed holed up in his room.

Cronix and Cayden were also at the entrance with a few other house servants when the two arrived. The two cousins, a boy and a girl, came in a similar looking Carriage as the headmistress.

The only difference was a large emblem on both sides of the carriage. This emblem was the same as the headmistress, a multi-color jewel surrounded by black lightning.

This emblem was what gave the cousins the confidence to come all the way from the Gemma branch family house in Mirant to the Ayuna branch family in Klavor, plus they had a guardian.

The two cousins greeted Onyx with a hug. The male cousin's name was Jasper, his red eyes were bright when he saw his cousin and was the one who initiated the hug, his age was quite similar to Onyx's, but he was only a flawless three star Caster.

His sister on the other hand was named Jade, and unlike her brother's, her green eyes were cold and calculating. She had to be forced by her brother to give Onyx a hug. Jade was slightly older than her brother, and was at the flawless four star Caster stage.

Cronix couldn't help, but curse under his breath with the arrival of these two, but what worried him the most were the arrival of their guardian.

The guard was a Core Creation expert, and while he wasn't as scary as the headmistress, Cronix could tell he was obviously stronger than the headbutler.

Next to Cronix was Cayden, he took a look at the cousins before glancing up at a window on the third floor, they couldn't see far enough to tell if there was anyone looking out the window, but knowing the resident of that room, they most likely were.

Riley looked out the window with a complicated look, no one would be able to guess what he was thinking.

A few hours passed by, and the moon slowly rose to the sky as more guests began showing up, however it wasn't just families the Ayuna's had good relationship with that were arriving.

As these types of parties were also a way to show off their power using their younger generation.

However, the arrival of these types of families were what worried the Ayuna's the most, as they would try to find any weakness they could exploit.

For example, the arrival of the guests from the Lorio family, who mention the noticeable lack of Core Creation guards present in the household, with the exceptions of the headmistress and the headbutler.

As more guests arrived, so did their Core Creation guardians, but the headmistress was still the strongest one in the household.

However the three boys didn't have the time to worry about this as they did the tasks that were given to them with Cronix and Cayden serving the guests, and Lapsa delivering the food.

Cayden walked quietly through the halls, and he casually made his way upstairs, to the third floor, no one acknowledged him wherever he went.

As he was doing that, Cronix was counting. Whenever Cronix went to serve food, he was paying attention trying to find that family's allegiances, to find out if they would help the Ayunas' if trouble arrived.

While Cronix couldn't tell for most of them, he could at least find some with a less than favorable impression of the Ayunas'.

When Cayden went to the third floor, he knocked on the door of a certain room eight times in a specific pattern before going back to the first floor.

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While Cronix was eavesdropping on a conversation between someone from the Lorio family with another family, his foot was suddenly run over by a cart.

Cronix's lip trembled and his fists were clenched, but he didn't make any noise. He looked at the one in control of the cart, and surprisingly it was Lapsa.

Lapsa had an apologetic look on his face, but he quickly nudged his head to the side. Cronix looked in that direction, and saw Cayden standing there, watching them.

When Cayden made eye contact with Cronix, he nodded his head, and turned back to the direction of the servant quarters.

Cronix got the hint, and while serving food, he slowly made his way to the exit. Lapsa watched Cronix, but soon his eyes noticed something silver in his peripheral vision.

Being part squirrel, Lapsa didn't have to turn his head to clearly see what the silver was, his peripheral vision was just as good as his direct line of sight.

A small smile appeared on his face as he turned away from the silver gleam. The crow watched the party from a window, her heart was nervous, it could be said that her part in all of this was the most dangerous since she was in charge of fighting the Core Creation experts.

But the sudden movement of a specific person suddenly drew her attention, and a hidden sense of dread appeared in her eyes as he walked towards the direction of the slave quarters, following Cronix and Cayden.

Footsteps echoed in the darkness as Cayden walked through the servant quarters, his hair fluttering in the wind. Every servant besides the field servants were at the party, but the field servants were given a rare chance to rest, so no one was outside.

Another set of footsteps echoed behind him, Cronix's pace was just like Cayden's, neither fast nor slow. He took in a breath of the cold nighttime air, it gave him a sense of calmness, but if one looked deep in his eyes, they would see an overwhelming amount of fear.

The door to their room gently opened when Cayden arrived, and a minute or so later, opened again for Cronix could enter.

Cayden pushed Cronix's bed out of the way, revealing the teleportation array. So far it was completely silent between the two boys, but it was broken by Cronix, "I'm sorry about the other day."

Cayden raised an eyebrow, "The other day?"

"You know, how I was rushing us to help the crow reach the Core Creation stage, even though we didn't have a plan and then we were almost caught, So... I'm sorry." There was a hint of worry in Cronix's voice, like he was scared Cayden might reject his apology.

It didn't help that Cayden was silent through all of it, but his silence didn't last long, and his laughter rang out.

Cayden's laughter was bright and joyful, like he heard a funny joke, "How long were you waiting to say sorry? I've completely... Forgot about that." He could barely manage to finish his sentence.

His laughter slowly began to stop when he saw the look on Cronix's face. "I shouldn't have apologized, you know it was pretty hard to build myself up to do it." Cronix bitterly said.

"Of course, of course, I'm sorry about that." But Cayden's eyes suddenly brightened up when he realized what he just said, "Wow, that was hard." He said jokingly.

"Whatever, forget you!" Cronix turned back to the teleportation array.

The atmosphere in the room softened up a bit, and some of the tension was released

However this didn't last, as a voice quickly destroyed everything, "So this is what you've been doing this whole time."

This voice caused them to freeze, their pupils to shrink, and their heart beats to accelerate drastically.

Ortan stood at the doorway, a sneer visible on his face. When he saw the fear in Cayden's eyes, his grin only widened.

His Core Creation aura suddenly spreaded out, and enveloped the entire area. This wasn't like before or all the times Cronix had felt a Core Creation aura, because unlike those times, Ortan was releasing his aura unreserved.

The pressure instantly caused Cayden and Cronix to fall to the floor, they could barely even stay on their knees even when infusing all their power into their hands and knees.

Ortan raised his foot to take a step inside, but he was suddenly hit on the side of the head with a blast, the blast knocked him away, but it wasn't nearly strong enough to knock him out.

With a frown on his face, Ortan stood back up, only to see silver feathers against the night sky, and while it was too dark to see clearly, he could sense a blast coming towards him.

But how could the blast coming from a mere initial stage Core Creation magic user be enough to startle him? Ortan drew the fire elements, and not only did he destroy the blast, but he sent an attack of his own.

The crow flew up to dodge the flames, but they came too fast, her feathers slowly began to catch on fire.

Ortan's frown deepened when he saw the bird, but he chose to ignore it. His attention went back to Cayden, he mostly ignored Cronix.

But maybe that was to Cronix's favor as he raised his hand towards the roof, and shot a blast that contained his mental energy.

That blast of mental energy drew Ortan's attention, it wasn't the blast itself, but rather the mental energy in the blast, he recognized it.

"It was you! The mental energy I destroyed in my room was yours, and the attack that day was also you, but you were questioned, that doesn't make any sense unless... Young master Riley." With just this information he was able to piece everything together.

Both Cronix's and Cayden's blood turned cold, this was unexpected, and there was a gleam of dread in Cronix's eyes as a realization dawned on him.

If the two boys didn't want to trouble Riley after they were gone, then there was now something that needed to be done, Ortan had to die.

Inside the manor, Lapsa looked up at the sky, a blast of mental energy was his cue to start. He ditched whatever his current task was, and walked to the hallway.

He began searching the wall, thankfully Cronix told him where to find his formations, so he quickly found one.

Taking a deep breath, a light of determination gleamed in his eyes before he backed away a considerable distance while taking off his tie.

Under his control, mental energy infused itself inside the tie, then using the air elements, he launched it at the incomplete teleportation array.