“Important upcoming events? Meaning?”
Sasha asked.
“Yeah. It's the reason why I sent for you guys.”
Said Miko.
He then looked at them, as if trying to size them up.
He then showed a satisfactory smile and said-
“A year from now there will be a grand event that will decided who the king of the kingdom will be.”
He then pointed at himself.
“And I'll be the representative for the Primus branch.”
“?!”
Miko's words caught them all by surprise.
“Wait Miko, you're going to aim for the throne so early?”
Leon asked. It was clear that he couldn't understand what he's thinking.
“What about Rouge, and the Secundus branch? I doubt they'll just sit by and watch you do as you please.”
“Ah, don't worry about that. The Old man took care of that.”
Nero took something from his pocket and threw in the air.
An enormous sheet of paper appeared floating in the air.
This was a contract with both Nero's and Rouge’s name signed at the bottom with blood.
“This is a [Fate Contract] between me and Rouge. A [Fate Contract] is several times more serious than a [Soul Promise]. If either party breaks this agreement, not only them, but all of their descendants will suffer 1000 years of bad karma.”
When they heard the punishment for breaking the agreement, Sasha, Aeon, the twins, and Momo could feel their blood go cold.
With a thousand years of bad karma it wouldn't be strange if they all died horrible deaths without being able to resist.
This was an agreement that should never be broken. Otherwise, one of the branches could cease to exist within a century or even a decade.
“….What are the conditions of the contract?”
Sasha asked.
“For me to state the conditions I'll first need to explain just how will the branches compete for the throne.”
Nero flicked his hand and the contract changed into a list of words in the style of an announcement.
It read “Throne Wars”.
“In order to decided the winner, Rouge and I decided to turn it into a competition rather than an all out war. This is because both branches are still recovering from previous wars, and cant afford to lose any more military strength.”
“Makes sense. So what kind of competition will it be?”
Luka asked.
Miko smiled and said-
“A team for team death match.”
“Wait you and Dario are going to try and kill each other?!”
Sasha frantically asked.
Miko shook his head.
“I like I said, it's a team for team battle. Dario and I will form a team, and we'll clash against each other on a stage.”
“The winning conditions are as followed.”
Nero said as he pointed at the paper.
“One, kill all of the opposing King Candidate’s soldiers. Two, kill the opposing King Candidate. Three, capture the opposing King Candidate. Four, make the opposing King Candidate admit defeat. Five, Persuade at least half of the opposing King Candidates soldiers to give up and join you. These are the five ways to become king. Whether you kill your way to the throne, is up to you.”
Nero said with a light tone.
“Now here's the restrictions that Rouge and I placed on each other.”
The paper changed back to a contract.
“One, neither of us are allowed to take part in this competition.
Two, no one from the Secundus and Primus Branches or anyone affiliated to them are allowed to take part. Both King Candidates are to find their own teammates outside the clan.
Three, neither of us will try to harm or kill either King Candidates or their associates. Either directly or indirectly.
Four, we aren't to try to hinder either king candidates from competing.
Five, if either of us discovers any third parties attempting to hinder or harm any of the king candidates, we are to eliminate them.
Six, no matter the outcome of the battle, neither branch aren't allowed to seek revenge.
Seven, each king candidate are suppose to use their own strength to fight. No God Artifacts or power aiding weapons or drugs of any kind.”
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Nero flicked his wrist again and the contract returned to its normal size and landed in his palm.
“These are rules of that will govern the competition to ensure a fair battle.”
“….It does sound solid. I doubt they'll be any cheating.”
Sasha said.
“No. These restrictions are only for the Old man and Rouge. They don't really govern the action of the king candidates and their soldiers.”
Said Miko.
Momo nodded in agreement.
“Dario just needs to move without Rouge’s knowledge and he can cheat; especially since the contract never states that they had to monitor the king candidates prior to the competition.”
“There's also the option of a third party with the ability to hide from Rouge and Nero, moving against one of the candidates. Nero and Rouge could also make it that they won't be in the know when either king candidate are plotting against each other.”
Luka said.
“I-I see. Then you're right.”
“Don't worry, Sasha. Miko is safe as long as he stays in the Primus World. This is also one of the reasons you were called here. To prevent a hostage situation.”
Said Kimiko.
“Yes, Mama.”
The two smiled at each other.
Kimiko then approached the twins and stooped to their levels.
“Hello, Kristan and Tessa. I'm your grandmother, Kimiko.”
She spoke to them with a gentle tone.
The twins looked at her as if they were really curious.
“Grandma, you're really pretty!”
Said Tessa.
Ace and Sora wanted to nod in agreement, but their muscles stiffen when they remembered that kimiko was Nero's wife and Nova’s mother. More importantly, they heard that she was Kimiko the [Tyrant] from Aeon.
For them a simple nod could cost them their lives, so they restrained themselves.
“Why, thank you. But you two are prettier.”
She said as she pat the twins head while trying her best, to direct the leaking death aura away from them.
She then stood up and looked at Leon.
Her eyes sharpen for a bit and then relaxed shortly after.
“Nice to meet you, Leon.”
“Nice to meet you Kimiko.”
Leon replied with a nervous voice.
It was clear that he was afraid of her.
Kimiko realized this, and then deduced that this was probably because of the stories Markus spread about her in the Saevio Clan.
Well not that she cares what the Saevio Clan thinks of her.
“Hm?”
She looked at Leon again and noticed something.
She then looked at Miko.
‘…..There's a similar aura coming from the two of them? Is it the demon blood from Beleth? But it's too similar. It's almost like two parts of a whole.’
“But I got say. I thought I was abnormal, but you're something else, Father.”
Said Miko as he looked at Leon.
“Four years ago you were only a [B Class] and now you're a [S Class]. That’s amazing.”
“Ah, my strength seems to be growing rapidly lately.”
“Yeah, it's almost devilish.”
Aeon said from the side.
Leon glared at him, but he ignored it.
“Speaking of wish, you're planning to use these guys as soldiers, Miko?”
Miko nodded.
“But I won't force them. If push comes to shove I have ways to slaughter Dario and his generals by myself.”
Miko said with confidence.
“I'm taking part in this battle!”
Luka said with determination.
“You want to kill Dario?”
She nodded.
“Well, that was my intention from the start.”
Miko smiled at the determination in Luka’s eyes.
He then looked at the rest.
“What about you guys?”
“Of course I'm fighting too. The last time I wasn't able to do anything for you, but know I can!”
Said Sasha.
Kimiko smiled as she heard what Sasha said.
She could also sense the strong aura of death, hiding within her body.
It was apparent that she had trained hard over the two years like she was supposed to.
“Its natural that we're helping to. Right?”
Hina asked Ace and Sora.
“I’ll finally get to take out my frustration of these four years of torture on someone.”
Said Ace.
“Overthrowing a king sounds like fun. Besides if we win you'll make us generals right?”
Miko nodded to Sora's question.
“Then I'll get to enjoy to aristocratic lifestyle. What's more to need than that?”
“I'm sure the Saevio Clan will aid Dario. I want to get back at them and reclaim my title, even if I have to disgrace them on a grand stage.”
Said Leon.
“Big Bro, can we fight to?”
Tessa asked.
“No. Unlike me who trained his body from the day he could walk, you two only started training two years ago so you lack fighting experience.”
When Miko was 10 he fought against big names like Killo and slaughtered thousands to become a war hero.
However, the twins lacked Miko's power and skills when he was their age. But this was normal for 10 year olds. Miko was the abnormal one.
When he said that the twins had a dejected expression.
He placed his hand on their heads.
“Don't worry. Even if you can't fight with me now, there's a lot of time in the future.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah.”
The twins started smiling happily when they heard that. It looked like they really wanted to help their brother out.
“Now that's out of the way.”
Aeon turned to Momo.
“Why don't we test out our disciples? We have a year, but a year is still short. So the best thing to do, is to let them compete with each other and see what they're lacking.”
Momo nodded to Aeon words, even though she knew he only wanted to see something interesting.
“Miko, do you mind? You were training until earlier after all.”
She asked him.
“I'm fine. I'm also interested as to what these guys had learnt in the last couple years.”
Miko said as he smiled provocatively.
Capital City, Royal Palace.
Two men sat around a table in a room together.
They were the former king and former king’s guard Dario Dragna and Marco Saevio.
“Tch!”
Dario was in a horrible mood as he stared at the rules of the competition between him and Miko.
“From King to King Candidate. Quite the demotion, don't you agree?”
He spoke without hiding his dissatisfaction.
“What can we do? It was a decision made by the two most powerful people in the kingdom.”
Marco spoke with a carefree tone.
“Do you regret not allowing me to kill him 6 years ago?”
He asked Dario.
He was obviously referring to after the Darius incident.
Dario shook his head.
“If you had Kill him then this Throne Wars would've been the least of our concerns.”
“I know, was just joking.”
Marco then took up the necklace that was in front of him.
It was the Necklace Of Bael.
“Over a decade later and we still can't figure out what Nero was trying to accomplish by giving us this.”
“It's pretty obvious what he was trying to accomplish. He wanted me to use this, no make you use it since the Saevio Clan have demon blood in their veins, so the rebound won't affect you and corrupt your mind.”
Marco threw the necklace at Dario who caught it.
“Using this would most likely attract the attention of the Zebul empire and Zara. Nero probably wanted to fight Zara and wanted to use me as bait.”
“How terrible.”
Marco spoke with a sarcastic tone.
“Anyway, what are we going to do about this battle?”
“Win, of course. What else can we do?”
Dario looked at the rules again.
“Apparently, each king candidate can have up to 20 soldiers. If it's twenty then it shouldn't be hard to gather. However, I cant allow any members of the Triads to enter. Otherwise, my ability to raise capable soldiers would be questioned. If I want to win and earn the respect of everyone, I need to use my homegrown soldiers and generals.”
“I believe Third will do the same.”
Dario then leaned his head in his hand.
“Let's go with quality of over quantity and use only generals.”
“Good idea. General Han is now a [S Class], and he was Leon's master. I'm sure he'll be able to counter him. General Barkley and the others also risen up to [Upper A Class]. If you had our [Lower S Class] strength to the mix, I believe we'll have a solid group.”
Dario nodded.
“Even though it's a bit early, I also want to use the Armored General.”
Marco opened his eyes in surprise for a bit and returned to his carefree face.
“Now that would be increasing. We still don't know what kind of stage Rouge and Nero are planning to create, but I'm sure his strength would come in handy.”
Dario nodded.
“The real question is, how much will that kid grow in the one year period?”
Dario then smiled for the first time.
“I suddenly feel like training again after so many years.”
He looked at Marco.
“Wanna come?”
Marco smiled as well.
“Sounds fun.”