-Capital Kingdom of the people-
"Fuck, what the hell was that ? First those demons and then Leo fighting for them. God damn it, what happened to that beanstalk? And how the hell did he beat us so easily?"
"Even from a distance I couldn't hurt him, I've never seen a wind shot like that."
"He wasn't himself, someone must have been controlling him in the background. He had nothing at all to do with old Leo."
"But he recognized us and didn't kill us. He left me alone so I could heal you, so there's still a little bit of kindness in him."
"You can argue all you want, but one thing is certain: that wasn't Leo standing on the battlefield. I've never seen that black portal, that armor, his sword, and especially those runes. He was ruthlessly killing people without even batting an eye. It's a miracle he responded to words at all."
"And don't forget his abilities, in his current state no one can beat him. I don't even want to imagine how it would have turned out if he had led the demons."
"Yes yes I understand that we got lucky and have no chance but what now? Should we just give up and let him destroy everything?"
"Of course not. Apparently his ultimate goal is to kill the king. Leo had reasons to hate him but not to this extent. The king had his hands in the death of Leo's troops for sure. Leo will not stop until he has taken revenge. Knowing him, he won't strike just like that, he always made a plan for everything."
"So that confirms that ultimately the king killed Leo. So why are we still fighting for him at all?"
"Do you want to give up everything, who knows if he doesn't see all people as enemies? The people and especially your friends must be protected. You have no choice but to obey him if you want to live normally here. Or do you want to take the throne and rule yourselves? I hate to say it, but Leo is far more dangerous than coming wars."
"I just can't believe he would kill like that. This is not the Leo who protected me, who escorted the residents, who is my friend."
"Of course you are all completely surprised that he has changed so much, but I disagree. You don't know how he changed in that one year in the army. From a soldier to the leader of a doomed squad. I saw him a few times and each time he was even more absorbed in his role as a general. I hate to say it but in the end you didn't really know him very well, in that one year you didn't even see him. And his life was completely upside down from the moment he started in the army."
"So far there has been no sign of Leo or the demons, who knows what his plan is. There is no time to lose. I may know a way to give you a chance against him, but I need the help of my family.
Grae became thoughtful, he felt guilty but it was a way they could stop Leo. Outside the common peoples houses stood a huge estate. Filled with the most beautiful statues and shimmering flowers, it was the most beautiful house ever. When one of the butlers saw Grae, he gave him a sour look and informed his master.
"It has been a long time Jures, I suppose you did not come here just to say hello. Your father is in the estate, his mind has not changed. Even as a famous commander you are not accepted here anymore. So, what does my son want from his parents after all these years. Isn't the money you took in our name enough for you?"
"No, it's something completely different. I have committed myself to a great responsibility. Even then I knew there was no going back. You all knew it, in the end I ran away and betrayed the family. I know that I cannot make it up to you. However, I have one last request as your son and commander of the kingdom. I need to go back to the cursed chamber. Where it all started may be the solution to our biggest problem."
"After all these years, you come back only to die. Haven't you learned from your mistakes?"
"Mother, if I don't try there will soon be pure chaos. Even if it kills me, I'll leave this world with full pride. I suppose I need Father's permission, please just give me five minutes with him."
"Brother, you're back!"
A young girl with blonde hair came running towards Grae but before she could hug him she was held back by her mother.
"Anne you know what we talked about. He may be your brother but he is dangerous to this family. Who knows how much of that cursed magic is still in him. I don't want you to get sick."
"But it's my brother, he would never hurt me-
Anne! You saw him, that's enough! Jures has no business here anymore!
"Mother is right Anne, if you get too close to me you might get hurt. You've grown quite a bit in the last few years, are you going to the academy yet?"
"I've been in one of the best classes for 2 years, mother and father are very proud of me."
"I hope you didn't force her, Anne should decide for herself what to do."
"Of course we didn't force her, after you left she read books about magic every day to impress her brother someday when he comes back. It's too late for that now. Johann will take you to father, this is the last time I will help you as a mother. Come Anne, your brother has important things to do, say goodbye and then go back to the garden."
His little sister was sad when her brother left her again but her mother did not let her hang on to him. This was Anne's last goodbye to her brother. The butler showed him the way to a small study where his father was sitting writing documents. When he saw his son, he stopped writing.
"It has been a long time, my son, it is too late to return. Your expression tells me that you are here for something else. I am not surprised that once again you are thinking only selfishly. So speak, what do you want to ask for this time?"
"I am here to take the forbidden scriptures father. They don't belong here, I will keep them in another place."
"We locked them away after you faced death, but now you just want to take them? Do you realize how much you are insulting us with this?"
"And yet I ask for this last favor. The survival of many people may be at stake. "
"And you want to justify everything with that? Normally, I should kick you out of the mansion right now....
...You know where the chamber is, take it with you and never show your face here again."
Wordlessly he thanked father and went into an underground tunnel. A chamber with a huge gate and a large barrier stood before Grae. He concentrated, took a deep breath, and summoned black magic from his hands. It enveloped the barrier and broke it. Then he took the key his father gave him and closed the gate. A few meters behind were dozens of books and scrolls surrounded by black smoke. Jures remembered back to the point where he almost died here. This is where it all started, the abandonment by his family, the magical academy and finally the promotion to commander. He would have liked to take Marah with him, but his parents had forbidden visits earlier. He took another deep breath before walking through the smoke. His veins turned black and he found it difficult to breathe. If he lost his concentration now, it would be the end of him. He took the writings and placed them in a magic-protected box. Grae felt infernal pain inside, but he had to hang on. After a few minutes, he had sealed everything in the box. Completely without strength, he passed out and remembered all the years with his family. Hours passed but then he regained consciousness, he was still in the dark corridor. When Grae looked back into the chamber, all the smoke was gone, the chamber looked normal again.
Wordlessly, he carried the box in front of him through the back exit of the estate. When he looked back one last time, pain and guilt was written on his face. Instead of meeting with the chosen ones that evening, he gave the others the rest of the day off. He knew they could be attacked at any moment but his personal feelings had the upper hand that day.
"Where the hell is Grae? He said he wouldn't be long, it's been five hours?"
"Maybe something happened to him?"
"Nothing happened to Jures, I guess the problems with his family were too much for him. Even back in the academy he had often talked about how he wanted to make his parents proud. After it came out that he could partially control this forbidden magic, he left his family to receive special training. Even before that, he was the year's best in normal combat, so it was hardly a problem for him to do several training sessions. But his parents were devastated when they found out about all his training and just like that he had enlisted directly into the army.
...He just left me alone, he was the perfect training partner. It was 0-82 but the next time I would have beaten him if he hadn't just run away."
"I think his parents are more important than you Soran, you see him almost every day and yet you train together."
"It's not the same, he has a big advantage because of his own training. But very soon
I can easily beat him."
Wouldn't it be better to look for him? Who knows if he'll show up tomorrow?
"Believe me, if Jures doesn't want to be found then you won't find him. You're just wasting your time."
"Soran you trained Leo and went into battle with him didn't you?"
"Yes, in the beginning he was just balast but then he got better and better. He didn't fight with sword or bow, his real weapon was his head. I have heard that his tactics were far ahead of his opponents. But I always beat him one-on-one hahaha."
("Grae was right, he really is a show-off).
"Soran, tell us everything you know about him, what exactly has he experienced? He must have a weak spot somewhere."
"I can go ahead and tell you about him, but that won't get us very far. But since he is, or rather was, your friend, you have the right to know everything."
Until late at night he told everything he knew about Leo. His curiosity for knowledge, his tricks, his leadership as a general and about his squad. The four were surprised; it was hardly the Leo they knew. In that year he had changed so radically, when they learned about his squad they became thoughtful and a little sad. They knew he had changed, but now they had a better idea of what he was like before. To all of them his goal was clear, ultimately he wanted to kill the king by whatever means. But since he hadn't killed them and even left Luke alone they knew that there was still some empathy left in him. They took a little hope that he still could be part of his old self after all.
The next day, Grae called everyone in for a meeting, after apologizing, he showed them the box. Only Marah took the documents and books and looked at the titles:
"Of Monsters and Demons"
"The Life of Black Monsters"
"Forbidden potions and alchemies"
"The Life of Cursed Magic"
"The Captive God"
"Dimensional Cage"
"The 11th Seal"
These were the titles, of most of the documents. They were divided into several books and scrolls. But there was a big problem, Marah could not decipher the writings. The sentences made no sense and the terms were from ancient times.
"Are you fucking kidding me, no one can read this supposed solution? So Grae got it all for nothing and wasted our time?"
"I didn't waste anything, if you want you can go back to fighting Leo in your state. I don't have much hope that you will win. The books not only give information about his powers but could enhance yours for a period of time."
"Guys, there's some name here: Veronia, Zistel. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Veronia is a village not far from here, what Zistel means I have no idea. But at least we have a possible clue. Tomorrow we ride out, get ready.
We don't have much time, who knows what our king is up to."
-Monulis at the same time-
"He really wants me to tear him apart. I've made it clear that we leave here around noon what about that doesn't he understand?"
"We can't wait any longer, who knows what Mina and Kail are going through. So let's get going."
"That's out of the question, this idiot is coming with us. If I have to I'll just beat him half to death for the time being."
Suddenly Zaris came out of the tavern and spoke to the two.
"Don't hold it against him too much, he's grown to this place. Mostly he keeps promises, saying goodbye must be hard for him. We were lucky to get away in one piece that time. Take care of him and remember, he's stronger than you think, I trained him personally."
Lynia and Leo doubted Zari's words, Aiden looked like a lazy carefree boy to them both. Suddenly Leo had an idea, out of anger he clenched a fist and led the way.
"Hey where are you going, we were supposed to meet here."
" Oh trust me, I have a great idea where our prince is. Hard goodbyes my ass, I know exactly where he is right now. If he doesn't keep his promises then I'll promise him some beatings."
Leo's aura became more threatening, people moved out of his way.
"Are you insane, just spreading murderous aura around here is stupid."
The two of them stood in front of the brothel again, Leo went inside angrily while Lynia waited outside. She only heard the startled women and some men complaining. Shortly after, the men's voices disappeared and sounds of pain rang out. The next moment, something was thrown through the door. Aiden was lying on the street , his pants only half on.
"Ouch, you didn't have to be so rough. I was almost done after all. Goodbyes are always hard I just needed more time. You know what I'm talking about dont yo- oh.
When he looked at Lynia, she made a disgusted face.
"So this is your form of goodbye, letting your lust run wild until it dies. We need to work on your attitude quite a bit."
Aiden got angry and snapped at Leo.
"You have no idea what a real goodbye looks like. For months, these beautiful angels have provided me with a noble service. After all this time, we've built a relationship that is far from simple love."
"Oh yeah? Tell that to the next man who is about to defile the love of your angels. From now on, you better think with your head and not through your pants. When he had put his clothes back on properly, one of the ladies from the brothel came to bring him his equipment, on one of the daggers was an imprint of her lips. Aiden was almost about to be mesmerized when Leo scared the woman away with his aura."
"You're full of crap, you're only doing this because you've never had a women yourself."
"Is this all a game to you? Wake up, time is running against us. Your concern for others has completely gone down the wrong path. Concentrate on what's coming, from now on you can forget about your fun world here."
"...So you really haven't had any..."
Leo's sword began to glow but Lynia calmed him down at the last moment.
"Leo is right, from now on your life is not a game anymore. Learn to think about others or was everything you said yesterday just a lie?"
"Okay okay, I'll pull myself together. So let's go, off to Osikan, we can't waste time. You said so yourselves."
Leo and Lynia knew that he would cause them some more problems, but he had a good heart. But whether he will keep this good heart would soon be put to the test.