Charles parried the impostor’s blade with his violin bow and countered with a slap on the man’s face.

The white-haired man was sent reeling after the attack. While not physically damaged, he was certainly staggered.

Charles did not capitalize on the opening as he waited for his foe to get up.

“Why aren’t you taking this seriously?” The white-haired man charged at him again with a series of slashes.

“I am but a humble butler and you have taken one of my charges. I assure you. I am taking this very seriously.” Charles said as he seemed to barely evade each strike in a way that would make an inexperienced warrior think he was just lucky.

“You’re a lucky one aren’t you.” The white-haired man said.

“Well that answers that.” Charles dodged and countered by slapping the exact same spot he hit before.

The false Leon held his face as he noticed a few teeth had been knocked out.

Charles waited for the man to come back, doing his part by holding the warrior’s attention.

Minutes passed, and the false Leon found himself battered and bruised. Missing quite a few teeth.

“You haven’t moved from that spot! You’ve just been playing with me!” He yelled.

“Guilty.” Charles bowed in the middle of a fight that left him open.

A large gray wolf pounced on the bowing butler. Knocking him off his feet and into the brush. The sounds of a slaughter followed by some screams echoed from the forest, and Charles didn’t return. The sounds of something eating and tearing flesh filled the background.

Ceres made it back and used the opportunity to send a spear of rock at the grinning white-haired man. Sadly the spear connected with his body and shattered into dirt and dust. Not even leaving behind a bruise.

“Tsk. Tsk. You should have run away when you had the chance, whelp.” Her target said.

The white-haired man waved a finger at Ceres, sending a wave of ice mana at her legs, freezing her in place.

Tiffany appeared from behind and traced an octagon in the air with her sword of light, sending the construct at the white-haired man.

He brought his sword down to break the unknown ability. This resulted in a blinding light hitting everyone in the vicinity.

When the world cleared, a lance of ice seemed to have flown through where Tiffany’s heart should have been carrying the bloody appendage with it before Tiffany collapsed to the ground. Unmoving.

Kyrion’s calm veneer shattered as rage began to build. From around his general vicinity, mana entered the blade as his body struggled to stay on its own.

“Kyrion, that feeling in your chest. That sense of loss, the hatred for the one who was taken before their time. Give in to the cycle of death and destruction so that new life may bloom in its place.” Said the older voice from inside of him.

“No.” Kyrion fought the feeling. Now was a really bad time after all.

Memories that weren’t his own tried to force their way into his mind. They were trying to overwrite everything he’d worked so hard to build. The years he’d spent in constant agony due to his condition. The years spent around people who only gave him half-truths at best and outright lies at worst. Memories of a childhood spent training to be a warrior, a slaughterer, a destroyer. The memories of a monster that lay hidden within him. A lifetime so far removed that it didn’t matter. Except it was this mind that was trying to push forward. Trying to break out.

“No!” Kyrion said as blood began to leak from his pores as the mana of a high quality began to run rampant in his body.

“Will you shut up, kid!” The white-haired man turned and approached Kyrion.

Kyrion’s hair began to grow darker and darker along with the sclera and irises of his eyes. Parts of his skin began to burn as well. The sword in his hands showed signs of breaking.

“You need someone strong for this little Kyr. Someone with experience. I won’t let you die here.” Came a much deeper voice, one much older and resolved.

“I said no! You damned Idiot. You’re messing up my plan!” Kyrion kept clawing at the overwhelming force.

“You planned to let your friend die? You’re a coward.” The older voice said.

The white-haired man watched as Kyrion appeared to be arguing with himself.

“I’m charged up now, use me before I shatter.” The sword reminded them.

“Let me handle this.” The older personality said.

Kyrion’s right eye twitched as he forced his will onto the older soul.

“What are you doing?!” The older spirit bellowed as it felt resistance.

“Taking my body back!” Kyrion yelled his will, proving to be surprisingly the stronger one of the two.

Kyrion reasserted control of his own body.

“So…what was that about?” The white-haired man seemed to be in a hurry.

“Drama that I can’t wait to push onto someone else.” Kyrion said with a smile on his face.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but you sacrificed someone you just came here to save.”

“I have what my teachers call a really bad poker face so I’m going all in. You need to give up now or you’re probably going to die. Since I know you’re not Leon, why don’t you let me know your real name.” Kyrion said as he brought up the sword.

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Lightning that seemed as dark as a night sky danced around the blade.

“Mighty cocky for a brat.” The white-haired man took two steps forward.

“Oh no. I know I can’t beat you alone. I’m just here to bring the lightning.” Kyrion threw the sword at the expert rank spirit master, and it cut through the sky, leaving behind a black streak.

Leon deflected the attack with enough force to shatter the opposing blade. The black lightning arched outwards, spreading from one place to another. Sparkes scared Leon’s body as pain ran through him.

He whirled on where the boy should have been, only to find that the whole area was empty. Not even the corpse of the girl who he stabbed through the heart remained. Hardly even a drop of blood remained where her heart lay though there were quite a few broken swords where she had been previously.

“Wait. I’ve seen these before.” The false Leon’s pale face became ghostly.

“How dare you destroy my precious swords!” Said a man from above.

“It wasn’t me, it was him!” The false Leon pointed where Kyrion had been previously.

“There’s no one there.” The Eyeless man raised a single head of blades.

“Listen to me. Look right there!” In his panic, the false Leon kept pointing.

“You know know I can’t see right? None of my senses are picking up anyone in that direction either. There is another expert in this direction but he just seems to be feeding his pet spirit. There’s another girl over there but she was busy protecting herself from that wild attack of yours.”

“I’m an ice user that was lightning!” He replied, exasperated.

“I know, you shattered Fujin... of your own accord. To think you’d be so stupid. Draw your sword or die where you stand.” The eyeless man said.

“Are you stupid!?” The false Leon yelled.

“Now you’re ridiculing me!” The eyeless figure acted chastised.

“It was all that kid’s plan. He sat this up. That Kyrion brat put all of this up. Blame him!”

“Kyrion? Oh is that the name of the person we were after? That’s Alexander’s grandson’s name if I recall correctly.” The eyeless man scratched his head.

“Why does that matter?” The false Leon was worried.

“Well if it’s true then you’re both at fault. Give me one of your eyes.” The eyeless man smirked.

“What?”

“You heard me. It’s an eye for an eye or an eye for your life. I’ll be making the same offer to the boy, so it will be totally fair.” The Eyeless said with a smile on his face.

“You’re insane! What are we paying you for! Aren’t you supposed to be the second strongest person on the planet? Or was that just false advertising.” The false Leon said.

“A few months ago I was the third. The second from then is still so far above me it didn’t make any sense, and the first. Well I’m sure your leader now knows what happens when you poke a sleeping bear. I have no desire to do so when I may work for them in the future.” The Eyeless man smiled.

“What are you not telling me?” The false Leon smirked.

“The fact that this one is able to hide from me is proof enough. Your kingdom is headed towards ruin as even the land you walk on is actively fighting against you. So eye, or your life?” The Eyeless man said.

“You know what? I think you might just be a coward.” The false Leon raised his hand, preparing to send out a wave of ice with his sword.

A right-arm holding onto a sword fell to the ground, followed by a left arm. Then the body fell as the legs seemed to have been removed from the torso. The body writhed in pain as a giant knife descended to remove the prone warrior’s head.

“Didn’t even need to help.” Said a guttural voice.

A white wolf trailed by a girl with white hair entered the area.

“Ninety-four, you finally make your appearance.” The eyeless man said to the wolf.

“Heh, not even that anymore, since you permanently killed my spirit.”

“It was already ripped from you. Not that it matters, you’re still an expert tier spirit with control over ice.”

“Yeah, I’ve already been told about a potential master.” Leon said.

“Darn.” The Eyeless man sighed as he descended from the sky.

Charles walked out of the forest and made his way toward a red-haired girl.

Asela was frozen in fear, not because of any of the damage caused by the white-haired man. Nor was it because of any of the blood and apparent death. No, what scared her the most was the pressure she felt from the boy she called her brother. It hadn’t even been turned at her, yet she knew not to rise to her feet.

“That’s one of the reasons I don’t worry for your brother.” Charles said.

“H-he’s my cousin.” Asela said, trying to regain her senses.

“I mean technically he’s closer to an uncle since you’re a generation behind. Though it’s easier to say your siblings.”

“What was that?” Asela asked.

“His willpower and innate presence. You wouldn’t notice it unless you know what to look for and it normally isn’t something someone this young should have as much of. It has more to do with mentality and mana. It’s how people without spirits use their mana. Your brother nurtures and endears everything around him naturally. Animals like him, plants like him, and he seems to easily make friends with those who wish him no ill will. He isn’t a monster but he does keep one locked deep inside.” Charles explained.

“What monster is that?”

“In short, a version of himself that went down a dark path and found nothing but death and anger. The further it went the more he lost, until his enemies made a deal with a devil to turn back the clock. I’ll tell you what I know when you’re old enough.”

“So the person I saw was a monster that tried to break out and then my brother came back after beating it up.”

“Close enough.”

“This has happened before hasn’t it. Kyrion’s hair used to be red, but something happened and it all started to turn black and it stayed that way for a while.” Asela said.

“Yeah. Though I’m not at liberty to say what caused him to get that angry. From what I’ve seen it has nothing to do with Kyrion’s own feelings. He took his friend faking her death in stride.”

“Wait, Tiffany didn’t die?” Asela looked surprised.

“No I certainly did not.” Tiffany said from behind Asela.

“Ah! When and how?” Lightning began to pool on her fingertips as the young girl prepared to open fire.

“Lighting that’s new. It’s normally associated with a high affinity in the wind branch.” Charles looked at the dancing bolts.

Tiffany sighed as Jala crawled on top of her shoulder. “It was my manuver. Bow to my ability to trick and deceive our enemies.”

“Tricky, he’s already worse than his mother was when it comes to plotting.” Charles sighed.

“He does seem to think quickly when it comes to causing lots of trouble for others.” Tiffany nodded.

“Save’d you didn’t he.”

“For a moment I thought I was dead. I couldn’t move for a while.” Tiffany stated.

“That was me, sorry for scaring you milady.” Charles bowed to Tiffany.

“Just what did I get myself into.” Tiffany shook her head.

“You can still turn back.”

“He’s saved my life a few times already. I feel indebted to him.”

“She’s got that same look Nicole gets… I don’t like it.” Asela squinted.

“Nicole? That porcelain girl?” Tiffany said.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. You have a few years to get sick of him after all. Speak of the devil he’s on his way here.” Charles added.

“I still can’t see him.” Asela started looking around.

Charles pointed upwards as a quiet thud could be heard from above.

“How do you keep track of him?” Tiffany asked.

“I placed a little of my mana on him to keep track of. Not enough to stand out but enough for me to keep track of the little trouble maker.”

“That’s not nice. We should get out of here. I’d rather not lose an eye.”

“So you’d rather lose your life then?” The Eyeless man said from behind the boy.

“How did you find me so quickly?”

“My hearing is excellent, I didn’t have to hear you, I had to hear Charles. I still need to focus on you to even notice your presence. While I don’t hate you, I have to be consistent. One day I’m sure I’d look forward to borrowing your abilities. But right now I’ll be taking one of your eyes.”

Kyrion pointed to his right eye. “My right one then.”

“Why that one?” The Eyeless asked curiously.

“Apparently people can see when I’m up to something. Some glint or whatever. I don’t like people knowing when I have one of my ideas.” Kyrion said honestly.

Asela looked left and right while Charles had an odd smile.

Tiffany was surprised. “You’re ok with just giving up one of your eyes?”

“I mean. If the eye’s a snitch then it’s best I get rid of it.”

“Sounds like I’ll be doing the world a favor if I take your left instead. The thing is, I don’t like doing favors for the world, so you’re in luck.” The Eyeless man passed his hand over Kyrion’s right eye, which vanished.

“That wasn’t so bad….” Kyrion shut both eyes immediately as pain from the missing limb seemed to hit him. Blood leaked from the open wound.

Nicole found him next, a look of worry on her face. “Your eyes. Why would you do something so stupid? Couldn’t you have just waited for us?”

“Nah. I actually liked Leon, though I kinda get why his presence threw me off before. You were in charge the whole time. Weren’t you Bliz?”

“Huh. Not as dumb as you look. Though I was actually Leon. I used to prefer to have people think I’m a wolf spirit rather than a wolf spirit master. Less human purest drama.”

“We could have helped you know.”

“Nicole. I already know you’re hiding a lot. For whatever reason I get the feeling it’s all for good reason so I won’t ask what. Planning while expecting the unexpected is one thing. Planning something while relying on an unknown variable to fix everything is just dumb.”

“You’re different from the semi illiterate kid I helped teach how to read.” Nicole crossed her arms.

“Aww shucks. Now seriously we need to get back. I have alot of healing to do before I go to sleep.”

Ceres made her way towards the group from her hiding spot a reasonable distance away. She was with Kyrion until he decided to run off.

“Master. Your eye!” Ceres exclaimed.

“It was the price I paid to rid a thorn in my side. Now come on. It’s time to go home.” Kyron said.

The group made their way through the forest sans the Eyeless Hydra, who had taken the eye and decided that was enough.