Theo looked outside through the window. A storm had been raging outside since morning and it showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. His plan of walking the fields outside the capital while searching for monsters was shattered to pieces. Even his astronomical luck couldn't prevent one of these unfortunate days.

He looked inside the room. Vivi was busy trying the spell Lyana taught her earlier but still wasn't able to. Lyana was lying on the bed with stacks of books beside her. The more he watched her, the scarier Lyana's reading speed became.

He himself had nothing to do. He had trained to unlock the skill screen Vivi told him about, but still to no success. lyana did not seem interested in such thing and focused on learning a tier 4 magic.

He looked outside again. It had been two days since the castle incident. Since then, the number of disappearing nobles only increased. Any team Sir Arslan sent to investigate the sewer either return with nothing or never return at all.

The men they captured in the castle were Wrath's men, but even after some torturing session, they didn't give any connection to Aria. Theo handed the spy woman to the Spy Corps since it was impossible to hold her in his room for so long. Since the Spy Corps was on Ana's side, there should be no problem, or so he thought. She escaped the night Theo handed her.

Sir Arslan told him that the only way to stop Aria might only be to confront her directly. Only Theo could do that, though he was still preparing for that.

He knew that there was a secret dungeon beneath the castle that leads to the Sewer. It was a perfect escape route for Aria. Yet, there was one problem, he only found one entrance and one exit to the dungeon. If there were more than one entrance and exit, his plan would fail.

Sir Arslan said that he would help him, but not directly. His hands were tied behind his back when it came to matter regarding Aria.

A lighting struck a forest some distance away, averting him from his thought.

"One...two...three..four.... five....six...seven" He heard the rumble. 'About two and a half kilometer'. He thought after calculating it in his mind.

His eyes wandered until it went down to a hooded kid walking down the cobbled main road. What was the kid doing walking outside in a storm like this? Even an adult wouldn't dare.

He stood in surprise when he noticed the kid has a distinct blue hair. "Ed?" He turned his body. "Vivi, Lyana, I'm going out for a while." He shouted.

He stormed outside and ran after Ed without waiting for Vivi's and Lyana's replies. "Ed!" He shouted as soon as he stepped outside the inn. His voice was muffled by the raging storm.

Ed, who wore a huge cloak, turned after hearing his voice. "Theo?"

Both of them smiled. Looking at each other in the middle of the downpour was hard. They could barely see anything with the dense rain droplet, but they have no doubt about it, they were both smiling.

"Ed, what are you doing here?" Theo said full of energy. Ed destination was the Kingdom of Magic, Lethrand. While heading to Redmound was not the wrong way, there were lots of more direct route he could take.

Ed's face turned grim. The smile on his face disappeared and his eyes turned dark. "Theo.... Actually, I come here to tell you a bad news."

-----

Princess Aria sat on the sofa inside her chamber, a glass of wine on her hand. With no magic lamp on, her room was dark, the storm outside didn't help either. She put down the glass and stood up, heading for her bedroom.

The moment she stepped into her bedroom, she could hear the full sound of the storm outside. She could feel the gale of wind coming from her right. From the window she remembered closing just a few minutes prior. She looked to her right.

A thunder flashed behind a man who sat on the window frame.

The man wore a brown cloak that covered almost everything save for his eyes. His eyes were....familiar for the princess. "Hello there, Princess." Even his voice was familiar, but the sound of storm prevented her from accurately remembering who.

"How can you get in here?" There was no fear in her voice. Spies and assassins were usual business for people of her status. Especially after what her faction had done.

"Climbing of course. The tower is tall, but not the tallest I've ever climbed. The guards are easy to pass, most of them didn't even bother patrolling in a storm this big."

His answer piqued her interest. The tower walls were designed to be hard if not impossible to climb, and the rain should make it even harder to climb. Yet the man still made it. His climbing skill must be equal to Subaru if not better.

"It's amazing how impeccable your timing are, turning your head towards me when a thunder strike behind me." Said the man. He got down from the window and opened the hood.

Aria couldn't hide her surprise, even with her acting skills. Though her face returned to normal just a few second after. "Sir Theo, what a surprise. What brings you here?"

"You said I can come anytime, so here I am." His reply was a joke, yet his face showed the opposite. He threw a sack at Aria's feet. "Open it. A gift from my friend in Aeston."

She opened the sack.

Her eyes widen as she saw what was inside. For the second time, she couldn't hide her surprise. She couldn't smell the foul odor because of the strong wind coming from the window, but if she could, it wouldn't be pleasant at all.

Now she knew why there was no report from Kanae. Her severed head lay inside the sack and her blood pooled inside it. Her neck wasn't cut cleanly, it was as if a tiger bit her head off. She grimaced for a second before returning to her stoic mask.

Theo pointed his sword at her. "You tried to hurt my Mary!" Theo shouted in anger. "This is not about the succession war anymore, this is not about getting you or your sister anymore. No, this is personal."

Theo took a step forward, but he stopped. Aria showed no sign of fear or distress.

Time slowed down to an extreme degree. His body shuddered and his heart pounded hard. An unexplainable fear and dread surfaced in his heart.

A cracking of stone could be heard from his left, followed by an actual crack on the stone wall. Theo jumped back with all his might. Yet even as his senses were forced to the limit, his body stayed the same. His muscle could only move so fast.

The stone wall exploded as a massive glowing red sword came out from it.

Time returned to normal as he jumped out of the way of the sword. He grabbed the window frame at the last moment, stopping his backward movement and preventing himself from falling 50 meters to his death.

A tall man with a blood red plate armor emerged from the blown out wall with an unusually long sword in hand. A pair of red point stared at Theo from behind the red helmet, as if there was no eye in there. The feeling of dread and doom filled Theo's heart the longer he stared the man's eyes. His gaze moved to Aria, who smirked behind the tall man.

Theo climbed outside to the roof. Aria could wait later, for all he knew, his life was in danger.

The storm brewed harder when he reached the roof. Thunder struck the mountain range in the distance many times. Theo swore he could hear an epic theme song playing in the background.

The man from before jumped to the roof following him. Red aura oozed out from every opening of his armor. The moment a raindrop touched the aura, it vaporized into a blood-red mist.

Theo took a step back and looked behind. The difference in height between the tower roof and the main castle roof was about 12 meters. He jumped down. He had no chances against his enemy on such a small roof. Theo braced for impact. He focused all his aura on his feet to dampen the impact. "[Soften fall]"

Theo touched the roof at a staggering speed and immediately rolled afterward. The impact ran through his feet and up to his spine. Even after being lessened by the aura and by his skill, the impact was still significant enough to hurt him.

He looked up to the tower, where the man stood and stared down at him. The red aura and red mist swirled around him. Theo's hair stood on ends when he saw what was behind that man.

His aura formed a figure. A giant red skull with a horn from both side of his head. "Avatar." Theo said with both fear and astonishment in his voice.

When a person mastered the control of their aura, it took a distinct form when released in full power. It could have taken any form, from a God to just a critter. No normal human could have an avatar. Even those who are skilled and talented in aura control have trouble learning it. And one such person stood before him.

Theo gritted his teeth. He knew who that man was. Alex Red, The Red Devil of Amaryn. One of its strongest knight, second only to Sir Arslan.