When Julius woke up, Lucas had fallen asleep alongside a huge pile of paperwork. It was still dark outside.
Julius got out to check how long it would take for them to reach their next destination.
"Soleil."
A sphere of light formed within the interior of the fancy carriage.
There didn't seem to be a limit to how many times Julius could use Soleil or Hades.
Julius was still quite enthusiastic about his new abilities.
As Julius exited the warmer insides of the carriage and checked the front, he saw two majestic iron-black horses trotting forward and a completely absent driver's seat.
Julius checked the back of the carriage in anxiety before tapping Lucas irritably.
"Lucas. Lucas."
Lucas woke up with a tired grumble.
"What?"
Julius chuckled weakly.
"Albert... He's kind've disappeared."
Lucas furrowed his eyebrows.
"I don't have time for these jokes, Julius."
And Lucas tried to go back to sleep.
Julius now even more irritated than Lucas, yanked him up and dragged him out to force the truth into his reluctant eyes.
"SEE."
Lucas blinked thrice.
"What the-?"
Julius cackled.
"But it's fine I'm pretty sure these horses are auto-traveling or something."
Lucas cursed.
"Julius."
Julius looked up at Lucas.
"The Eastern-Mountain Bandits of the Land of Iron always take out the driver first. I studied it in the papers a few days ago."
"Eh?"
"Albert has probably been dragged off and killed already. And we're next."
It was the first time Julius had truly had to acknowledge a death that wasn't his own first-hand. The man who he had just talked to... had probably died?
This matter was far more tense than a man in a black suit alerting him of his Father's death, or his Father alerting him of his mother's death during his adolescence.
"Th-that's a pretty bold assumption."
Lucas sighed.
"Grab the gun and prepare for combat."
Lucas pointed to a fancily decorated revolver where Albert had last sat. Julius took it steadily. He had never held a gun in his life before.
Julius felt oddly enthusiastic about the upcoming battle. He felt confident with his magic. He could surely just blind all his enemies with Hades, and then shoot them with the revolver whilst they were blind and weak.
"What about you? What will you use?"
Lucas looked at Julius like he was genuinely concerned for him.
"My... magic? We don't all only know 2 support spells."
Lucas looked out of the side of the carriage.
Julius tapped his shoulder quietly.
"They're here."
A group of men dressed in thick fur cloaks and carrying an armament of silver weapons came into view.
The horses that were mindlessly ambling themselves forwards gradually slowed down before coming to a complete stop.
A man with a thick beard spoke out, his muscular arms looked like they were going to burst.
"Lord Viktah of the Eastern Mountains demands that you hand your goods over quietly."
Lucas walked over to the front of the carriage.
"We don't have anything. Look at our clothes."
The man with the thick beard groomed his beard and examined the carriage before him.
"The horses should please Lord Viktah."
Lucas grunted with an ugly irk masked over his face.
Julius sighed.
"You need help getting them off?"
The man laughed.
"Stay back you little ones."
He sheathed a chipped silver knife from behind his back, there was a bit of stained blood on its edges. It wasn't hard to see that it had been cared for very poorly.
"Wouldn't want you to get hurt."
The entire gang of bandits chortled.
Lucas muttered into Julius' ears as 4 bandits came over to unclip the horses from their reins.
"Give me 4 seconds, I'm ending this fast."
Julius readied his revolver, his throat was sturdy and ready to unleash a Hades to aid Lucas. He truly did not feel like walking to the Kingdom of Iron or wherever it was that they were heading.
A small part of Julius also wanted to avenge Albert.
The bearded man looked at Julius and Lucas as his men unclipped the horse.
"You know how would you boys like to be slave-."
Julius' face twisted in revolt.
He let out a childish yelp.
"How would you like to become blind?"
"Hades."
Julius' intense emotions formed a huge area of impact that encompassed all the bandits and even the horses.
Magic crashed through the air rapidly.
Their eyes were filled with an inky substance and groans emerged as a sharp pain shot through their bodies attentively.
Soon, the entire horde of bandits were blind.
"What?"
"The kid knows magic?"
"Why can't I see a thing?"
Lucas saw the obvious chance that had just risen and jumped down, whilst calling out a mighty spell.
Lucas looked at the bandits viciously.
"Heed my call, and devour all that stands before me into the sun."
The bandits ambled around in confusion and anger due to their blind states.
"Scorching Paradise."
Soon, a huge vibrant empowering wall of flames stretched out and threatened to devour all of the bandits as it fell upon them.
One of the bandit's from the back reacted quickly using his hands to structure a counter-attack the second he heard of the fire nature of the attack known as Scorching Paradise.
"Damn it. Why does a kid know that spell?"
"Protect your creator."
"Wind wall."
A silver wall of elusive gust manifested before the bandits.
The two constructs met and the wind wall broke down but the attacking wall of flames was significantly weakened. It fell to the ground and collapsed as it no longer had the power to keep crashing forth.
Lucas didn't stop there, by this point the advantage was still present and strong.
Lucas only knew voice incantations so he had to speak as fast as humanly possible.
"Rain down upon my enemies like heaven's needles."
"Ice maelstrom."
The bandits had no idea where the next attack would come from and all of them were too wise to charge straight into a magician who was releasing destructive abilities with no care for his mana capacity.
Soon, peg-like ice constructs rained down from above with deadly intent. They pierced through some bandits allowing blood to form puddles on the ground whilst some of the icy pegs were deflected skillfully by others, allowing sparks to fly off vibrantly from steel weapons.
Far beyond the control of Julius, his Hades spell malfunctioned, slipping from his grasp. Soon the black eyes of the bandits healed, allowing them to regain their sight swiftly. They all regained their vision and snorted, immediately attempting to launch a counter-attack.
They didn't attempt to charge in mindlessly, since they were afraid that Lucas would release another huge spell to devour them all like his Scorching paradise from earlier.
Lucas spread his arms out wide and far.
"Protect me with grace."
"Wind dome."
A silver circle began rotating before letting out a pulse.
A circular rotating dome of wind surfaced around Lucas. Julius was barely inside it's protective haven.
Julius coughed coldly. His throat was numb. He looked down at the revolver in his hands and knew what he had to do.
He aimed the revolver at one of the bandits, a small hole opened up in the wind dome for his shot. But his hand was trembling and his insides felt like they were being squeezed tightly. He didn't want to kill a man. There had to be some other way to end the fight. One that didn't require a blood bath.
"I don't know if I can do this Lucas."
Lucas looked down at him.
"Same old same old. You need to grow up Julius."
Lucas cast a spell swiftly, his morals vanished along with it.
"Annihilate the human within me."
"Null point."
Julius' mind was invaded by magic. It went blank almost. All his burning emotions burnt out until all Julius knew was how to move his body to perform acts that he would've never done before.
The bandits had finished loading up their ranged offensive.
5 Bandits aimed heavy wooden crossbows toward the two young boys before them, ignoring the wind dome spinning and protecting the boys calmly.
5 heavy iron Crossbow bolts shot forth. Twangs sounded before they flew through the air violently.
They met with the wind dome swiftly.
Dong.
Dong.
Dong.
Dong.
Dong.
They all bounced off the wind dome harmlessly.
Julius finally picked up his pace and went with the flow of life.
The hole in the wind dome before Julius widened silently.
Julius aimed the revolver toward the bandits before him calmly.
And without a second thought, Julius pulled the trigger.
Bang.
The head of a bandit let out a gush of blood before the bandit fell to the floor with a thud.
Thud.
Julius' right hand jerked back from the power of the shot.
The recoil made Julius feel like his right hand was dying but null point had nullified his pain to the point where he could easily shake it off.
Julius instantly turned to his next target.
Realizing that their bolts had just been deflected by the wind dome the bandits unleashed all their magic.
Julius noticed 2 bandits preparing magic, they were muttering quietly, hoping that they could lurk like kitchen rats without being caught.
Julius straightened his right arm emotionlessly, and his finger curled around the trigger once more which was now warm with death.
Bang.
Bang.
Two dead bandits slumped to the ground. Julius' hand was burning. He had no clue what was going on due to the nullification. Just what his head was telling him to do.
Now the group of bandits had been loosely reduced in numbers.
Lucas smirked.
"With this, they probably have no magic users left."
Julius checked the revolver.
"3 bullets."
Lucas prepared his plan.
"Julius, blind them."
Julius in his current state barely had any emotions present, just the cold shallow presence of his mind.
Without thought, Julius leaped out of the wind dome. The wind briefly wrapped around him before falling back, allowing him to leave unharmed.
"Hades."
Magic shifted through the air rapidly.
The bandit's eyes turned from white to black instantly.
They had been blinded.
Julius brought down the revolver to the nearest bandit, who was as clueless and blind as the rest.
And then a figure dashed in front of Julius.
Julius saw two functioning eyes that were flawlessly white, covered in a murky red aura.
The man before Julius wasn't blinded in the slightest.
The man swung his blade down with no remorse.
And then a well-forged sword of ruby red closed in from Julius' right, coming straight for his neck.
A muffled voice came from his left.
"Flame dash."
Soon flames invaded his view, Lucas rose above the bandit who could still see due to the red aura covering his eyes.
His legs were engulfed in red flames, his right leg specifically.
Lucas unleashed a swinging kick from his right leg, carrying the mass of a destructive body of flames and a world of momentum.
The bandit responded by sending his sword sideways to nullify the power.
Boom.
Flames crashed into the blade before rising up, Lucas' flame kick had been subsided by a strong blow.
Lucas sighed.
"An Aura User. So you must be Viktah."
The bandit nodded silently. He had two demonic black slits on his forehead that formed a strange T shape.
The bandits behind Viktah spoke in frenzies.
"Who the hell is that kid? He should've run out of mana way back."
"It doesn't make sense."
"Where is he? I wanna pierce through his runt skull. My crossbow is hungry for the piercing of bloody flesh."
Lucas muttered something quietly.
"Scorching Paradise."
Mana built up in the air above the bandits.
And with that, a blinding wall of destructive and blinding yellow flames crashed downwards.
The bandits were all devoured in one go, with the exception of a few lucky men.
As this act of freakish nature ensued, Lucas merely watched over like an apostle of the devil through the scorching yellow.
Such was what he had been deformed into due to the facilities of the kingdom of White.
They may have gave birth to a monster, but they had killed a boy.