-Chapter Thirty-Nine-
Don’t Play
“Look in her study. There, you’ll find all the answers to everything you want to know.”
The Aerianne Archduke recalled the words of the fifteen year old who had said them to him.
It was still unfathomable, how the little child he recalled from a decade ago had now turned into… whatever that was.
Rage incarnate.
Eyes with no tolerance, threats in his tone, someone who doesn’t play around.
The Archduke knew for a fact, from the experience of the time he had spent on the battlefield, that Aelius Kanaria was someone who would not hesitate to take a life.
He was able to recognise people like him, and he never expected the little, sweet child to so quickly turn into that.
Something must’ve happened to explain such a thing, and it could lie within what his wife had done.
The past between Leislette and his now deceased spouse, he did not know.
He only knew that since the first day they underwent their arranged marriage, his wife had a deep hatred for Leislette Kanaria.
He took some time to mourn his dead wife.
But as time passed by, the resolve he had trained over the years kicked in, and quickly, an objective clarity returned to his mind.
Rising to his feet, he trudged down the corridors of his ruined manor.
When he heard the manor had been attacked, he came rushing over from Farrien straight away, fearing the worst.
As he observed the wounds on the servants and the mangled walls, it did not look like the acts of a human being, but a beast.
He still had many questions, as he arrived at his wife’s study on the third floor.
Firstly, it did not appear Aelius was the one who attacked the manor. Instead, it appeared that Aelius arrived and repelled the attackers on the manor.
But then, for some reason, after that, he also killed the Archduchess?
It seemed no one was ally to each other.
It was mutually assured destruction.
Just what did his wife get into?
With a shaky breath, the Archduke approached her desk drawers.
He reached out to take hold of one of the handles but wavered for a moment, his arm coming to a stop as he hesitantly clutched the latch.
A moment passed by where he simply stared at the draw, softly taking in breaths until he finally inhaled sharply and pulled the draw out in one motion.
No more hesitation. Awaiting him within were piles upon piles of documents.
—-----------------------
There’s no way… the Archduke’s eyes were wide in shock as he examined the documents before him in his hands.
The room was somewhat neat when he arrived. But due to his search for such secretive documents, it had been entirely turned upside down.
Only after looking in every nook and cranny, did he finally find a small compartment, a vault, containing the documents now before him.
And the truth. The frightening truth.
It was all too much to take in at once, as the Archduke read.
How was he to process this?
First, was the fact that all the years Aelius’ spent as a talentless mage, was his wife’s doing.
With a poison, she had sabotaged all of his potential since he was young.
Second, she was colluding with a secretive force.
Beings stronger than any man.
Their collaboration was simple. The fearsome beings, whose objectives were unknown, would both provide his wife the poison to sabotage Aelius Kanaria, but also the means to kill his entire family.
They also additionally promised her immense status and power in the new society they would bring about.
That was all the documents had recorded.
In return, they wanted only few things.
First, was for the Archduchess to carry out various tasks for them, and to act as their proxy in the eyes of other humans.
Second, was their daughter, Aria Aerianne.
That was their conditions, which the Archduchess had not yet approved of. Reading these truths, the Aerianne Archduke fell to his knees.
“This can’t be…” he stammered in shock.
The last thing contained in the documents, was the extensivity of the people colluding with these ‘Devils’, as they were called.
Through the Aerianne Archduchess, every Noble family in the North was under their control.
Further up North, other countries were also under their control.
Even the King of Farrien knew of their existence, and heeded to them.
The Archduke rose to his feet and returned to the front door of his manor, dragging his feet, his spirit broken.
All along, I had no idea this was happening.
And it not only hurt Aelius Kanaria, the son of my good brother, but it also almost came to harm Aria, my precious daughter.
My own flesh and blood.
It all made sense now. Why Aelius killed the Archduchess, and why he took Aria away from here, and why he looked at the Archduke with such eyes of disdain.
It all began with him.
He knew all along how harsh his wife was on Aria, but kept his distance.
He was concerned for her fragility. He knew since the very first day that his wife was not happy with their arranged marriage.
She didn’t approve of him. How was a husband like that supposed to act?
All he could do was give her space. He thought he didn’t have the right to exert dominance over her or disobey her wishes, because it was already unfair to her that she was here with him.
Yet, how could she betray him like this? When he did everything he could for her?
He still tried his best to bring prestige and wealth to their family.
Why did she desire even more?
He gave a broken laugh.
How could she bring in outsiders like these into their family affairs?
He looked up at the corpse of the so-called ‘Devil’ before him, standing like a scarecrow for all to see, and the fearsome words of Mana carved into the air.
“You are next.”
It was a message from Aelius.
The Aerianne Archduke took in a deep breath.
He was such a fool until now, and he must no longer continue to act as one.
No doubt, Aelius knew far more than him. If he wanted to be of use, he must follow in Aelius’ footsteps.
The first clue was the message.
Aelius left a message behind, and it was clearly directed to these Devils.
Most likely, Aelius knew the truth that they were the ones who poisoned him, targeted Aria, his childhood friend, and plotted the death of his family.
It only made sense Aelius would wage war on such enemies.
If these Devils operated anything like an organisation, it only made sense that more of them would arrive to check on the Devils that Aelius killed this night.
He left the message for them when they arrived.
And if they arrive and find the Archduke here, they would naturally kill him, or worse.
Aria lost one parent already tonight. The Archduke had no intention to turn her into an orphan.
Perhaps he’s not strong enough to join Aelius in waging war against these creatures, but at the least, he’s willing to abandon his home, career, and anything else, just to be by Aria’s side.
Now, she deserves love more than anyone for what she’s been through.
The Aerianne Archduke firmed his resolve.
Not to mention, if he wants to escape somewhere, there is nowhere to go.
The King is already in on the whole plot, and he has no place down in the South.
By Aria’s side is the only place that gives his life meaning.
Otherwise, he might as well slice his throat right here, right now.
The Archduke swiftly returned to his wife’s study and set fire to it. He made sure the flames were only contained in that small space, and once he was satisfied no documents remained, he left the manor behind, praying not to encounter any of these creatures, for if he did, he’d be no match.
Going down the forest, he wondered which way Aria went.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Now was the perfect time to activate Mana Resonance. Doing so, he was able to see her traces, and followed them all the way until he returned to Sepha.
Lonesomely, he journeyed through the forests.
Aria, where are you now? And Aelius, what is your plan now? Just where do I go? And what do I do?
—-----------------------
Aelius glared at the gleaming tip of the spear in his face.
“Outsider! You have been accused of attacking an important member of our village, as well as our Noble guest! Come with us! Do not resist!” The small crowd of village guards chanted, and Aelius looked doubtfully to Grayalla.
“You idiots know I was with her the whole night, right?” he asked with a raised brow, pointing to Grayalla, who turned her attention away from her sister and to the crowd.
“It’s the truth! He can’t have been the one who attacked Raphie. I was with him the whole time!” she quickly told them with a swing of her arm.
“Sorry Miss, but it’s the orders of the chief,” one of the guards answered and Grayalla looked away dejectedly.
“There’s no use imprisoning him! And he definitely isn’t the one who did it!” She tried to persist further when the crowd parted, revealing the old man earlier from the gate of the village.
The man entered, wearing a narrowed glare at Aelius.
“This is an investigation,” he spoke, his tone laden with authority. “If you do not cooperate, you will be deemed the culprit.”
Aelius felt a tinge of frustration stab at him.
“Do the words of this village’s only magic caster mean nothing?” he asked, pointing to Grayalla again.
“Why are you so hell-bent on coming after me when she’s already said I couldn’t have been the one to do it? The more time you waste on me, the easier you make it for the real culprit to hide away.”
The chief’s eyebrow twitched.
“We have good reason to suspect you,” he tried to explain further, as around them, everyone watched on in silence.
“You might have at first, but I should be clear of any doubt since Grayalla has vouched for me!” Aelius shouted back with a click of his tongue.
“You may just be a decoy while your companions acted out the crime,” the chief coldly continued to speak, raising his hand. “Therefore we will be apprehending you.”
A moment of realisation flashed across Aelius’ mind.
“There’s nothing to suggest my companions were the ones who did this. You’ve chosen random people and decided to make them the culprit!” he growled back, recalling Lia and Saki left in their room.
“Like I already said, there is good reason. There’s no need to justify it to you but…” the chief sighed.
“If you must know then,” he turned to raise his hands to the crowd, as if conducting a show.
“Raphie was a member of our village and loved by all. No one has any motive to attack her, so it can’t have been someone within our village. That only leaves outsiders.”
The chief then turned back to the deceased body of the young Noble girl.
“It was the same attacker who attacked Raphie and killed the Noblewoman. I doubt she was killed by any of her servants, so that must mean she was killed by an outsider to her party.”
Finally, the chief turned to Aelius.
“If it’s not someone of our village, and it’s not someone of the Noblewoman’s convoy, then that only leaves the third and final group.”
He raised a finger at Aelius.
“You.”
Aelius grit his teeth, looking over his shoulder at the escort captain of the Noblewoman.
“Well? Was there no one in your convoy that had a motive to kill your mistress?” he asked and the captain doubtfully shook his head.
“There can’t have been anyone. She may have been snobbish, but we’ve served her for years and vowed to protect her with our lives.”
Aelius clenched his fists as he turned back to the chief.
They won’t believe me if I say it’s someone from their village, and the captain behind me won’t accept that it’s someone from his camp.
He felt anger run beneath his skin as he glared at everyone around him, until he suddenly felt calmness take over him.
Calmness, and an odd coolness, as his breathing stabilised.
“Why don’t we ask Raphie who the attacker was?” he calmly suggested.
“We don’t know if she will wake up again out of her coma within the next few hours, if at all,” the chief rebutted and Aelius narrowed his eyes.
How does he know about Raphie’s situation if he just arrived here? Only the village doctor should have been able to assess her current state.
“I could cure her,” Aelius offered, putting on a small, confident smile.
“That makes you even more suspicious,” the chief answered without hesitation. “How could you heal her poison that we have never seen, unless you’re somehow connected to it?”
“Maybe, I can heal any poison,” Aelius shrugged. “Maybe, I’m a medical genius.”
“I find that hard to believe. You could be looking for a chance to silence her and say it was an accident.”
The chief took a menacing step forward.
“I will not allow your evil plans to succeed. Apprehend him.”
The guards began to encircle Aelius and he felt any desire to resolve things peacefully disavow him.
“Just on a side note,” he raised his hand, catching the attention of everyone around him. “Where are my girls?”
At his question, the chief’s eyes narrowed sternly.
“You don’t need to know anything.”
At his answer, Aelius snapped. All of the coolness evaporated in an instant as his patience melted.
Everyone in the room suddenly felt a wave of force erupt over them, sending them up against the walls, and the chief’s eyes widened as Aelius shot forward and pounced on him.
The chief was completely entirely unable to react as the younger teenager crossed the distance of the room in the blink of an eye and seized him by the throat.
“Listen here you piece of shit.”
Aelius pulled the old man to face him by the collar, exuding an aura of pure murderous intent.
“If a single hair is harmed on their bodies, I will fucking destroy this entire village-”
The chief spluttered with a cough when Aelius felt magic power gathering around him.
It took only a few seconds before it lashed out to try to restrain him and he quickly dropped the chief, diving away from magic beams that tried to imprison him.
As he came rolling back to his feet, he glared at the conjurer standing in front of him.
“Grayalla, what’s the meaning of this?” he asked in a low, menacing voice at the older woman who gave him a guilty look.
“He’s still the village chief. As much as I want to take your side, his orders are absolute.”
Aelius felt anger rush over him at how things were not going his way.
“Fine…” his voice was deathly quiet. “You fools brought this on yourselves.”
Alert!
User has activated the skill Reawakened One!
The User’s Mana Ring count will triple.
User has activated the skill Mind’s Eye.
Aelius raised his hand, reaching out to grab onto the thread that was connected to Raphie’s currently unconscious body, and yanked on it.
He expected telekinesis to kick in and have Raphie’s body fly into his arms but instead, mid way through his move, he felt something jump in the way and obstruct his Mind’s Eye.
Looking to the side in surprise, Aelius saw Grayalla had activated some sort of barrier around Raphie.
A barrier that was capable of even stopping Awakening Arts?
If she’s blocking me off from Raphie, then I can only immobilise her first.
Aelius grit his teeth.
I don’t have Asura, so I have no sword. This will be purely a conjuring battle.
Raising his hand, Aelius cast Arcane Magic in an attempt to restrain Grayalla, but she skillfully countered it and sent out a response attack.
Aelius tried to block it with his own barrier but felt immense stress at taking the blow head on.
Damn it! We’re both at the Sixth Ring! If she was still at the Fifth Ring, I wouldn’t have had any problem overpowering her.
He quickly switched to Anemo magic, sending a strong blast of wind outward to try and force her out the building, but she still stood strong against him.
Around him, Aelius noticed the other guards slowly regaining their consciousness, and the knight captain looked like he was about to intervene.
“Damn it…” Aelius muttered under his breath, looking around the room.
What the hell do I do? I’m useless without my sword and Asura. I need a sacrifice to bring Asura back.
His eyes suddenly landed on the corpse of the Noblewoman.
Good Mana density in her Mana Core, good genes from her Noble lineage, and lastly, a body that’s fresh and waiting for me.
“Fuck it.” Dumping his magic spell, Aelius spun around and lunged out at the bed where the young Noble girl lay. Before the knight captain could block him, Aelius clasped his hand around the girl’s wrists.
User has activated the skill Blink.
Teleport a short distance.
Aelius saw a flash of light and the cold breeze suddenly hit him as his feet hit the ground again, and he found himself at the outskirts of the village, freshly landing on the rooftop of one of the village buildings.
“Fucking hell.”
With a curse, he looked down at the girl and the bed he had pulled her with.
Her blonde hair, sky blue eyes and once foul-mouth aside, she was quite the enticing beauty.
This all probably works out in his favour, for she is probably one of the better choices he has to offer up to Asura.
Nobles were Nobles for a reason. Before the age of Aristocracy was established, it was survival of the fittest. But eventually, Nobles came into power due to their enhanced genetics.
There were several conditions Asura’s body needed to fulfil if he wanted to anchor her to the Real World.
Firstly was a female body. Secondly was good genetics that would provide a suitable foundation for nurturing a Mana Core. And thirdly, a body that he could easily acquire.
Typically, missing female Nobles cause a stir if they’re ever abducted in a city. Aelius had no intention to be the subject of a manhunt when he gives Asura her new body.
But, here he has a body with all three conditions fulfilled.
Aelius did not hesitate to immediately get to work, opening his storage portal, fetching his white chalk, Mana crystals and alchemic herbs.
In the cold of the night, he drew away around her body, all the while keeping a look out over his shoulder.
With every added pentagon, he placed a specific amount of herbs, precise down to the decimal figure at each corner.
As he felt the sense of accomplishment at his Spiritualituality handicraft, he would sneak a glance over his shoulder to see if anyone had spotted him. But each time he looked, they had not.
And under the shining white, full moon, he was ready to begin.
—-----------------------
No one in the room had any idea what happened as Aelius grabbed onto the body of the Noble girl and disappeared in a flash, aside from Grayalla who recognised it was a teleportation spell.
He can teleport, she thought grimly, conflicted between amazement and concern at magic she had so scarcely witnessed before.
The guard captain was in a furious rage in the aftermath, storming around the room and roaring in anger at his subordinates.
What was clear now, was that Aelius and his companions are now being hunted by everyone in the village.
Some time passed as the village patrols tried to gather themselves up and trudge off into the night to find him, and Grayalla found herself having to accompany the village chief back towards the central building.
As they walked along the sandy path beneath their feet, Grayalla looked up at the bright, white moon overhead.
There was nothing but silence as she followed the chief and his son, trailing behind, until finally the old aged man stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.
“Is he stronger than you?” the chief asked and Grayalla softly nodded.
“He’s also more knowledgeable when it comes to conventional magic techniques,” she responded, the two referring to Aelius.
“Then we can only rely on the guard captain to face him,” the chief clicked his tongue. “If things look like they’re not in our favour, you’ll have to step in and aid the guard captain as well. I find it unlikely he can defeat the both of you if you work together”
The guard captain they spoke of was turning the entire village upside down, in search of Aelius and the now stolen corpse of his master.
“Yes…” Grayalla quietly nodded, looking back up at the sky with a short sigh when her eyes widened, her feet coming to a dead stop.
“Hmm?” The chief noticed and turned back to her. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know…” she murmured and the chief raised an eyebrow.
“Grayalla?” He took a step toward her before she pointed up at the sky overhead and the chief followed the vector of her finger, his eyes settling on the moon before they widened as well.
“What in the name of Nos!?” he exclaimed as the moon that was bright white only a moment ago, was now dyed a blood red.
Quickly following was the air immediately turning heavy, and their visions slowly dimming crimson as if a powerful force hung over the entire village.
It was like something malevolent had descended, and the chief looked to Grayalla with fear in his eyes.
“What’s going on here!?”
“I don’t know,” Grayalla coolly answered, regaining her composure. “What’s obvious though is everything has gone awry!” She spun around, heading back in the direction she had come from.
“Where are you going!?” the chief called.
“Checking if they’re making sure he won’t abduct Raphie, and then I’m going to head to my tower!” she shouted back in irritation over her shoulder.
The breath-seizing atmosphere lasted for only a moment, and then the moon was back to its usual serene white. Even though brief, it was enough for fear to be casted into the hearts of all those in the village.
—-----------------------
What no one knew though was nearby the village there was a small oasis.
Not a single life was close by the vicinity, save for two figures.
One shaped bold and fit was standing beside his companion, a shadow of delicate elegance, seated at the edge of the pond, looking into the reflective waters.
“Is this… me?” her voice was not that of the original owner’s, instead the same as it always had been, Spirit or not.
However, sky blue eyes blinked curiously back at her in the water.
Looking at her soft hands and light blue polished nails, she was unsure of how to feel.
“I look… so young,” she reached up and felt her cheeks. “Just where did you find this body?”
“It was just uhh… lying around,” Aelius responded, remaining vigilant as he observed their surroundings.
“So, satisfied now?”
He turned to look at her to notice her rising to her feet, summoning the energy within her.
Immediately, her sky blue eyes turned crimson red along with her blonde hair.
In an instant, the Asura he knew had returned.
But as her power dissipated again, her eyes returned to their typical sky blue and her hair brightened back to blonde.
“Hmm… curious,” she remarked, still looking down at her hands. “So, what now?”
“Now?” Aelius turned his glare back to the village. “Now we show them that we don’t play around.”