"How much would you be willing to sell your children to me King Glayder?" Arthur spoke without missing a beat.
His question seemingly startled the King, "I'd rather been civil, but I find it disappointing that a person of your status would even think of asking someone to sell a member of their family. While I do know that slavery is common among you nobles, I find it disgusting to sell off someone I love for monetary value. I hope I am clear on the fact that I will never sell my bond."
Well shit's about to go down.
"YOU INSOLENT PEASANT! HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE KING'S FAMILY!" a guard shouted as he charged at us, his sword raised.
Big mistake.
His sword meets my ice construct, stopping him in his tracks, giving me an opening.
And so I use it, charging a fire spell I hit his torso with such force he was blown back, crashing into the wall and knocking him out instantly.
I see Sebastian charging a spell, aiming at me. Since I just fought a guard it left me open to his attack. Or it would've been the case had I not been a beast tamer.
My beast will's first phase gave me 2 abilities, and I gotta say, they're extremely useful.
[Stygian Rift] allows me to instantly warp to any shadows present near me, of course there is a limit to that. Currently I couldn't move beyond 10 meters. Still a pretty useful ability. To be able to instantly teleport to any shadow within 10 meters is quite powerful.
The second ability given by the acquire phase, called [Fragmented Psyche] gives me the ability to mess with my opponents mind, like increasing the amount of pain or fear they experience by some amount. Currently its at a factor of 0.25x .
I couldn't use [Stygian Rift], it would entail too many questions. So [Fragmented Psyche] it is.
Entering the acquire phase doesn't change my appearance much.
The sclera of my eyes turn black as my pupils glow a bright blue.
Looking towards Sebastian I exert all my willpower, making my first attempt to surpass the multiplier.
I had only a few seconds to do so because the next thing I know, Sebastian is on the ground crying out in pain as he clutches his shattered leg. And judging by the smell he shat himself as well.
My brother was lying down a few feet behind him, unmoving. I fear the worst and try to rush towards him. But my legs wont budge.
I feel something wet flow down my face.
Am I crying?
As I raise my hand to wipe my tears, but to my surprise its not tears that's flowing down my eyes, no.
Its Blood.
That's the last thought on my mind before I fall unconscious as darkness claims me.
_________________________________________________________________________________
As I came to the first thing I notice is the immense pain originating from my eyes.
ARGH! My eyes!
I try to open my eyes, only to be met with darkness.
Why can't I see anything?
Hav-Have I gone blind?
NO! That can't be!
Something must be blocking my vision.
Yeah that's it!
To test this I raise my hand towards my eyes.
Please don't let me be blind.
As my hands come in contact with cloth, I breath out a sigh of relief, not realizing I was holding my breath until now.
My vision seems a bit blurry, but it clears up soon.
I overdid it a bit too much it seems.
Damn right you did!
A voice came from my side making me jump.
Zeke?
Yeah it's me, do you even know what restraint means?
Yeah, yeah sorry, I did go overboard there. Don't worry I'm not gonna die anytime soon
All I received was a grunt of acceptance.
How long has it been?
Around eight hours.
I got up from my bed, only to lose balance and fall on my knees.
Damn, that long?
Might as well get up and ease their worries.
On my way out I heard voices from Arthur's room, so I went to check what was happening.
"...No one was in their righy state of mind after that, especially the kids. The King and his family excused themselves first. Your father is downstairs right now with the King's representative, discussing what happened."
It was then that Arthur noticed me, "Fay, you're awake!"
This caused Mother to turn around, "Fayden, you're alright!"
She rushed to me and pulled me in a hug, "Yeah Mom, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you again."
"Don't scare me like that again."
I could see the tears on the corner of her eyes.
Sorry mom. Can't promise that.
A few moments later we went downstairs as Mom went to Ellie's room to check on her.
"...-elling you, this isn't something that can be compensated with money. My sons were almost killed bu-"
Dad stopped abruptly as we entered the room, "Arthur, Fayden you're awake!"
"Yep, good as new,"
"Still kicking,"
Arthur and I say at the same time causing our voices to mix and confuse them on what exactly we said.
"So whats going on here?" Arthur asked.
"The King's representative came by tossing a few gold coins for the 'small incident'" Dad replied, while gritting his teeth.
"I have also been ordered to inform that both guards have been stripped of their nobility."
"So level with me here, for almost killing both my sons the King slaps them on the wrist and waves them goodbye?" Father answers, clenching his fists in anger.
"May I remind you that it was your son that spoke out of turn in front of his majesty?"
"And may I remind you that his majesty was the one to provoke him by asking him to sell off a family member?" I say in a somewhat dangerous tone.
"Its alright, neither of us were hurt, and I did speak out of turn." My brother tries to diffuse the situation.
I give him a 'really?' look.
He responds with his best 'just play along' face.
Sigh.
"I guess no permanent damage was donr anyways, so let bygones be bygones."
"Speaking of damage, what happened to the conjurer who broke his knee." Arthur enquired.
Come to think of it, I never did ask him what happened. Guess I'll ask after this fiasco is over.
"He's been stripped of his position, and is currently being treated."
"Were they able to find out what exactly caused this?" Arthur asked once again.
"We believe the mana released by the first knight interfered with Sebastian's spell causing a backlash."
He left soon after as Father began growing impatient.
As he left Dad threw the pouch towards me, "Huh?"
"It was you two who almost died there, so split it up between you. Besides you'll need money as adventurers. Now go and sleep a bit more" He replied.
"Thanks dad." I say as I gesure Arthur to follow me.
"So lemme guess you used [Static Void]?"
'"I guess I really can't hide anything from you, and you're one to speak. You really think I didn't notice you use [Fragmented Psyche]? Sebastian was way more scared than he should've been."
I chuckled at this, "You got me there. Come on lets see what Vincent got."
He hummed in agreement and we made our way to his room where the bag was kept.
I opened the bag, eager to see the cloaks and mask, and groan at what lay in front of me.
"Seriously! Why does everybody think I'm some kind of edgy teen, hell I'm not even a teen yet!"