Soon after he arrived on the fortress, Rick had their commander guide him through the facility. While walking around the fortress, Rick and the golden- haired man passed by a group of soldiers. From this group of soldiers, one particular short-haired female caught his attention.
"Lisa? What is she doing over here?" Rick thought in his heart. Lisa Fountain, Nerys and Gaius' cousin as well as his great friend three years older than him. They met on one day he five years ago when he was with his mother, it was also her who introduced him to Nerys who became his girlfriend shortly after.
On the fateful day he lost his arm, she was the only one of that family who came to see how he was. Only later that he discovered Lisa left for the army after six months. His eyes stopped on her figure for a second before walking away. No matter what, he wasn't that Roderick anymore. As for his feelings, Rick could feel his heart growing colder by each second. Just like when his mother was taken, he never killed a person before, but even alchemists that had nothing to do with what happened to her and just followed orders weren't spared and he wasn't even moved by the bodies left behind that day.
"Hey, this power. Will it affect my emotions when I use it?" He still remembered the question he asked on the day he woke up on his bed after saving his mother.
[Yes, this is a simple psychological. As you keep growing, beings lower than yourself won't catch your eye. In the future you may even see all of them as ants, this is why I told you to not use too much of your power. The more you use it, the less human you are.]
"Mister Jupiter, are you okay?" It was at that moment that the man with the golden hair saw his thoughtful expression.
"Huh? I'm fine, let's continue." After seeing the fortress, the commander made a feast for him while he introduced Rick to all his soldiers who were pretty much happy and full of energy. Until this point, everything was going the way it should be.
"Mister, let me introduce you to lieutenant Lisa Fountain. She is the first female non-elemental master to reach her present level. I'm sure you won't find others like her."
"Lieutenant Fountain, this man here is the seventh member of the divine guardians carrying the title of Jupiter."
"Oh." Hearing his identity, she only moved her eyebrows a little. From her current figure, Rick could easily see how much she changed. From her all of scars he saw on her hand and in the eye she lost, He could see she must have been through a lot in the past two years.
"Mister Jupiter was sent here to deal with a special operation. The higher ups told me to chose four people to follow him in his mission. You and other three will set out tomorrow."
"Understood." She didn't even questioned and just nodded with her head.
When the night fell, everything drank and chatted for a while before going to their beds. Late at night, Lisa had changed into her nightgown and prepared to sleep when she heard sounds of steps coming from the window.
"So you finally decided to see me.Should I call you Jupiter or little Roderick?" It was with her familiar sounding voice Rick could see she already saw through him and sighed out loud.
"There is really no way to hide anything from you, Sis. Just like in the past." This time he didn't changed his voice and spoke with the voice Lisa was used to hear all those years ago. Then she turned around and saw a blue-haired man with a delicate looking face wearing dark clothes and a bright silver bracelet on his wrist. The only thing different about him was that he didn't have a right arm.
Whosh! Before she could even move, Rick's figure vanished leaving a trail of blue light before reappearing right in front of her. Extending his left arm, he embraced his friend. Her body shook a little before she returned his embrace.
"Elder sis Lisa, how did you know it was me?" Even if he acted strong right now, the moment he removed his mask he returned to being that small little boy that followed her around. Despite that he really felt happy from meeting her, he also had a lot of questions he wanted to know like what happened to Nerys and Gaius, and the reason to why neither of them visited him after that day.
"Roderick, what happened. I left for less than two years and you've already changed so much." Lisa patted his head as she observed him from close. Just from his face you would never say he's only seventeen, even his long black robes could not hide the muscular body behind the cloth. His eyes also changed color from black to dark blue. She could also see occasional lightning flashing in his eyes with a hint of righteous aura.
"Elder sis is really happy seeing you, let's sit here and you can tell me what brought so much change to my little bro."