As the ceremony came to an end, The grey-haired, hazel-eyed butler was showing Lucius to his room, Naturally Sky came along and they both entered the room.
"Thanks Steven" Lucius said to the elder butler.
"No problem Young master Lucius" he said as he made a deep bow.
It was only then the realization hit Lucius that he had another wife now and, naturally the mansion territory as well as the City Auguste could be his some day. He closed his eyes and remembered the entire fight between him and Aleria, he chuckled a few times clearly remembering the sight of her made his heart pound, she is indeed beautiful and her pure lust for battle made Lucius' heart jump, Lucius never thought he'd meet this kind of girl before. He had actually taken quite the liking to Aleria.
"What are you thinking about? Just so you know I'm still first" Sky said as she pouted.
"Naturally" Lucius said as he kissed her forehead and hugged her on the bed. She smiled and kissed him on the lips.
They were both tired today and wanted to rest, so they continued their embrace and as they were just about fall asleep
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
Lucius got up to open the door, what he saw standing in the door, was a beautiful girl with long red hair reaching her back, a stunning face and alluring red eyes, it was Aleria in her negligee, Lucius was quite shocked, naturally he wouldn't allow the red-faced girl to stand in the hallway for too long. He didn't even had to ask what she wanted, her face said if he asked her what she wanted she wouldn't be able to reply.
As Lucius lay down, Sky sleeping to the right clung to his right half, and Aleria clung to his left, Sky let out a small chuckle as she peeped with one eye. It was Sky that told her to come over after all. Lucius lay down with his eyes closed unable to sleep, with two such beauties next to him, how could he? His heart pounded as his mind became fuzzy pink. He decided to meditate, while laying down as he couldn't sleep, it would be somewhat less effective but at least he would be energized by morning.
As the morning came Lucius let out a loud yawn, as he opened his eyes.
'I feel completely refreshed! We had to get a move onto the Academy now though'
'Our journey hasn't begun yet.'
His first thoughts in the morning was how to move forward. Yes this was Lucius' way, The way the dragons taught him, that no matter what may come, He must move forward, Put one foot in front of the other, and step forward.
As he looked at the beauties before him, he quietly got up, put them closer towards the middle and put two pillows to block them at the ends. He threw on his black leather gear he got from his Uncle Xia and lightly closed the door behind him and made his way towards the exit of the mansion.
In the courtyard, he walked till he reached a clearing away from all the sculptures. He withdrew his spear from his ring, and started practicing his moves, Lucius never missed a single day of training. He would do it everyday, at the same time, religiously. He Loosed his muscles after a few minor exercises, and he began practicing his spear style which he aptly named
"Instinction".
Lucius believed learning a particular style of Combat was limiting your means. He believed the body already knew how to fight, what it truly needed was a wealth of experience in order to evolve. When you dedicate and limit yourself to styles, you tend to forget that there are other means to victory!
This was Lucius' theory, completely contrasting to what the world thinks. This was a mind Cultivated by Xiaxinia! His absolute strong will to never be too attached to a favourite attack or to put his entire faith behind any blow. Always skeptical of the outcome between a clash of blades, always wary of a counter attack, Always re-evaluating everything, all of these kept his arrogance at bay, as he who grew up in the wild knew all to well, that a snake's dying attack could end you.
No mercy whoever the enemy! No hesitation no matter the consequence! This was his modus operandi!
This made Lucius' rhythm Unfathomable, every attack was different from the one before it, Lucius believed every attack should be aimed at a vital!
'Maiming? Dismantling? What are those? Something to eat?' he thought to himself amusingly.
Lucius didn't like playing with his food, Every attack must kill! Every thrust must carry with it
the stench of death! Every swing must decapitate! This was his theory!
He cultivated basic attack moves from Veranathus, after that, Lucius over the course of 500 years made limitless variations, only strengthing the muscles needed, the rest would only limit his flexibility, this was the advice he got from Xiaxinia, who always told him being fluid is the key to victory. Can you imagine a style that goes for the vitals at every single hit, at any position available?
Every thrust of his spear, tore and ripped the air, as he wwitched between Trident forms and spear forms, his flurry of attacks continued, in a second 4 after images of spear thrusts could be seen. In his hand the spear looked as natural as if it were his own limb, his erradic and spontaneous behavior was Indeed a terrifying thing. He used pure reaction time, flexibility and versatility, a style with no form, capable of attacking at any time at any position.
If that wasn't terrifying enough when Lucius poured mana in the spear, It would gain an incredible increase in sharpness and lightness. It became like holding a needle, When he would thrust he would hear the difference in power, and rather than 4 after images Lucius had created 6! It was a monstrous increase in power! The Air made no sound at all! It was as if the spear slid between the molecules of the air and their was no disruption at all. He laughed and laughed.
Then he mumbled "Yes...this is how it should be, I will come for you God of Time! When you take, you must be prepared to be taken from!"
His face had a terrifying smile.
He then continued practicing, a terrifying silence could be heard as he practiced, it was an eerie sound. Like A Reaper was swinging his scythe against the wind.
Standing a good distance away, an old man stared at him with pleasure, it was Aurius.
'Hmm, up so early and practicing, You're exactly as I thought you are, Just what enemy are you planning on facing? To be able to accumulate this amount of power and at this young age, I can tell you're going after a terrifying enemy....Could it be?...You're goal...Its Raz Seph...isn't it? You're not interested in the Four Elements one bit, ha ha ha, how frightening Ohh I see you in a different light now young one. I will watch over you and see your growth with my own eyes'
The old man thought's were finalized.
He withdrew a small crystal from his pocket, poured mana within it and a face appeared, it was slightly distorted as if to hide the identity.
"This is the boy my Lord Fuhrer, He is Aleria's new betrothed, I'm sorry but we cannot have an engagement between her and young master Alan anymore, for the reasons I explained to you before, Aleria will accept no other man. She has already chosen her fated" Aurius said firmly.
"....hmm....A draconian huh?..How despicable, Are you saying my son is not good enough for your grand-daughter Aurius?" A heavy voice said a tone of annoyance.
"Lord Sauros, There is nothing I can do, Her FireBlood activated on contact with him. She will not accept another man, it is truly unfortunate, there are two other sisters here he can choose from" Said Aurius trying to calm the Fuhrer.
"My son wants Aleria, Aurius, Then if that Draconian dies, it shouldn't be a problem right?"
he said firmly and coldly.
"My Lord surely you wont --" As Aurius said panicking, he was interrupted.
"Not me, Why would I personally take action for a mere child, there are many other methods I can use, Once he dies there shouldn't be a problem with the engagement Right" were his last words as the Orb went blank.
Aurius gasped and wondered what he should do, He took a liking to the young Lucius but he was supposed to serve the Fuhrer.
"What should I do? What should I do?" Aurius was in a state of panic.
After Lucius finished training he went to the shower, after he got dressed and went to the room to wake both Sky and Aleria for breakfast, they were already up. Aleria was in the shower and Sky was meditating, so he decided not to disturb them and left quietly to the Dining room.
As he got there he met Auriel and Marie both laughing about something and Jena was there as well, Soon as she recognized Lucius her face became hot red again, and starting pouring salt in her tea, and sugar in her food, she became totally disoriented as usual.
"Good morning everyone" Lucius said as he lightly bowed and took a seat.
"Morning Lucius" Auriel and Marie both said.
Jena fidgeted and opened her mouth, steam came through her ears and she became teary eyed as if she wanted to say something back but eventually gave up....as per usual...Lucius laughed.
As Lucius was about to eat a voice interrupted him.
"G-G-Good M-Morning b-big b-b-brother L-L-Lu" Jena said while clenching tightly to the
table cloth.
Lucius found it too cute to stand, as he rushed over and hugged her with a huge smile as if he found a little sister.
"Well done little sister" he said but she had already passed out from the hug.
Marie and Auriel laughed at the exchange.
After they finished talking about A few things, the rest came in and sat down.
"Morning Elder sister Krissa" Lucius said tauntingly, as he found out he really enjoyed teasing Krissa.
Her face became red and she responded abruptly
"S-shut up, Lunaticius."
"Morning Sky and Aleria, did you both sleep well? asked Lucius
"Yes of course " Sky said with a smile.
"..Mhhm " Aleria said with a red face.
During their meal, Aurius entered,
Stolen story; please report.
"Good Morning you all"
"Morning father" Both Marie and Auriel said
"Morning grandfather" Krissa Jena and Aleria said in unison.
"Morning Lord Aurius" followed Sky.
"Morning Spy" Lucius replied.
The old man was shocked, and using that opportunity Lucius slid his hands into the Old man's pocket and retrieved an orb.
Aurius' face changed immediately to a pale color as he reached for the orb but missed.
"Y-you!"
Naturally, Lucius was a 7th Grade warrior, as he grew up in the forest His hearing was indeed incredibly good, as he spotted the old man while practicing, he noticed the old man's unusual behavior and spotted the orb. He then Focused his entire hearing towards the old man's direction.
Lucius' level of divine power could only allow him to temporarily increase his Physical attributes and allow quick regeneration, so he used it to amplify his hearing even more, an overheard the entire conversation.
Lucius didn't respond, he poured mana in the orb, and waited till the face appeared and then he began speaking.
"A coward who uses any means other than his own, is nothing but a weakling, You wish to do battle with me, then you need only ask, I will completely oblige in your selfish mannerisms" Lucius spoke in complete arrogance and lashed out coldly.
There was nothing like a threat in the morning to get Lucius' body boiling.
"......" The slightly distorted face said nothing.
"What Lord Sauros Phoenix? Have you lost your senses? Seeing as you can so calmly decide to kill me off, You shouldn't have a problem If I do the same right?" Lucius sneered coldly.
"BOY!! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO?! I AM THE FUHRER!!" The voice finally spoke and roared angrily.
"I KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE, A COWARD THAT PLOTS THE DEATH OF A YOUNG CHILD WHO'S THE LAST SURVIVOR OF HIS ENTIRE CLAN, FOR YOUR SON'S SELFISH DESIRES, YOU ARE AN ENEMY! YOU ARE A DISGUSTING MAN THAT WOULD COMMIT GENOCIDE FOR GREED!!"
Lucius retaliated coldly with hatred.
"So? You all should have been dead already" said the Fuhrer with provocation
and a huge smile on his face.
"I've always hated draconians, when I heard about the Lightning Calamity I was in glee, Finally the Fire clan could rise to power and take it's rightful place as the strongest clan, you people were nothing but hindrances." he snorted disdainfully.
"Ha strongest clan? Surely you're not more powerful than the other races if you need help to take care of a child like me." Lucius taunted him at every angle.
"Ha Ha ha What an ignorant child, Those tree hugging elves are so weak with their tiny frames, Those filthy dwarves can't even see their own feet and are always falling over, Those beastmen smell disgusting, and they're so dumb they're hardly a threat, and your clan, They are already dead ha ha ha" The Fuhrer had lost himself in hatred as he spoke to this young draconian boy, the kind which he hated the most.
He continued spouting curses at Lucius and degrading the other races, The Fuhrer was incredibly furious, fitting his title. Lucius then cut him off abruptly--
"Okay good, I got what I needed from you, You prideful people sure have it hard huh? Anyways keep up the good work, I love what you're doing with the Continent."
Lucius said with a indescribable amusing grin, it was filled with sadistic tendencies and a cold sinister feel that gave the Fuhrer chills. The Fuhrer felt like something wasn't quite right. He lost himself in hatred and said many things he shouldn't have but luckily the only people that was there could be suppressed easily if he mentioned it to Aurius. So he relaxed thinking he had nothing to worry about....How wrong could he be?
Lucius didn't just want to destroy this man, He wanted to destroy what this man stood for, that's why he ended the conversation as soon as he got what he wanted, which was.....
The necklace artifact that Venastrasia gave him had two options, one was the feature where Lucius could send her telepathic messages and recieve them as well as she had the other matching side, and the other was well....
It was able to Record a minute of his surroundings so he could send small recordings of at least a minute. It was originally meant to be something Lucius was supposed to use to show Venastrasia anything he wanted to show her if she couldn't be in person.
But Lucius turned it into a terrifying weapon, he knew if he imbued mana into it, it could replay itself on the same device, he was also capable of using telepathy, so naturally he could send the images and sounds directly from the artifact into people's minds.
No one but Sky knew about the necklace as she saw him use it to show Venastrasia stuff about the places he visited and how human life is like.
Everyone dumb-founded at the current situation didn't know how to interrupt the two or what they were even talking about but they gathered it was bad, as they were sure The Fuhrer and Lucius just had an argument and it was a rather bad one.
Lucius then gave the orb back to Aurius and then headed to his room, with Sky and Aleria trailing behind him.
Aurius stood there dumbfounded, how could he have known that such a thing would have occured and he had no idea how to fix it, but what he didn't understand was
'Why would Lucius provoke the Fuhrer? It doesn't make sense, He could have hidden the fact that he knew about the conversation and Asked for help from the dragons, and everything would have been handled perfectly'
He pondered and pondered and could find no answer. He knew Lucius had a somewhat provocative nature but he wasn't an idiot, he clearly had some sort of plan but what it was Aurius would never know until Lucius himself revealed his intentions.
Aurius then gave up thinking and went to another room where he used the orb once more..and once more the face appeared.
"My lord, I truly apologize about earlier, it seems he overheard our conversation and lifted the orb from me" said Aurius apologetically as he lightly bowed.
"It's fine..I want to see what he will try to do, Better yet I want to see what he will do when my son approaches him at the Academy during the entrance ceremony, Ha ha ha, Alan will never forgive the one that tries to take Aleria away! This will ease my hatred! Aurius now go prepare to take them to the Academy, tomorrow the Entrance ceremony will commence, Aurius inform all nobles that the due date has been brought up for the ceremony, Ha ha ha Let us see if the little draconian can keep his head right after those bold statements"
The Fuhrer grinned with great animosity and a heart full of hatred.
Later that Night, on the third floor of the mansion, in Lucius' room, two girls lay asleep, on the balcony of that room, sat Lucius as he stared down into the Market Quarter of the City Auguste. A cruel smile on his face.
'It won't be enough to destroy him, I have to crush what he stand's for too!, and he moved up the Date for the Academy Entrance Ceremony as expected, that guy is way to gullible to be in a seat of power, Hmmm what should I do?....Give it to Aurius? Well though Aurius tries to hide it, he is indeed a deity. He would make a good Fuhrer too' Thought Lucius as he mused to himself.
'What should I call this operation? Uncle Xia said giving an operation a name gives it a higher chance of succeeding, an obvious lie...but I was fooled by it so many times when I was younger...It'll feel weird if I don't name it now....seriously...this was not a perk I should have been taught'
Lucius thought to himself as he facepalmed.
'Operation Furious?...no that's too weak...his last name is phoenix...maybe?....Operation BBQ? no that's just wrong...he might like it....let's see...AH! Operation In-Fuhrer-iated! This is definitely the one!' A smell yelp of glory was heard.
"You're mean you know that? Well it's not like I don't dislike that" A voice appeared behind him as it hugged him from behind, luscious, Azure hair fell onto his face, It of course was Sky...
She already knew what he was planning, she also knew it was going according to his plan, even the Academy Date being moved up was all within his predictions.
"Hehehe, What could you ever be talking about my love?" Lucius feigned ignorance.
*Sigh*
"It's never a dull moment with you, you know that Lucius?" Sky said as she played with the hair on his back.
"What? Are you complaining about it? If I remember correctly, you're better at these schemes than me" Lucius said teasingly but honestly, Sky had incredible intelligence, Lucius knew her
better than anyone else after all.
"How rude, Don't call them schemes!" She said red faced and pouting. She then added
"Still, I can't wait to see his expression tomorrow...but Lucius...be careful okay?" as she said so
Lucius could feel her grip tighten.
She had to make sure an warn him not to be too arrogant as the opponent was a Deity.
"Don't worry, Tomorrow will be the Grandest show ever! and If push comes to shove, I'll be in safe hands don't worry, Xiaxinia, Veranathus and Varathraga were all supposed to come to stir up things originally for my Entrance Ceremony, but now thanks to the Fuhrer, We can make it even grander"
Even though he said that he had already asked them not to intervene no matter what, for Lucius
this was a trial. Naturally Lucius looked forward to tomorrow,
"Tomorrow, I will attack the Fuhrer of the House of Fire!"
Lucius knew he wouldn't be able to win easily, but he wanted to fight a Deity still. He felt if he fought one, he would learn something important. Something worth risking his life for, he couldn't shake the feeling and decided to put it in the back of his mind, but then the opportunity presented itself, and he just couldn't refuse. When he heard Lord Aurius speaking to Lord Sauros, He couldn't help but feel happy after hearing the threat on his life from a Deity.