The words hit Lucas' ears like lightning. He sat up immediately with the speed of a warrior being called to action. "What???? FIRE??!!! WHEN???" The questions flew out of his mouth in rapid succession as he got out of bed and into his clothes. But Lolita was as clueless as the rest of them. She had only come to deliver the news to her master as she was supposed to do.
Without wasting time, the three of them dashed towards the conflagration at full speed. As they raced towards the scene with their hearts in their mouths, all sorts of thoughts ran through their minds. They hoped, they prayed, they even made promises to the universe. But it was all for naught.
Still panting from the long run, they arrived at the scene only to be greeted by a huge pile of ash. The whole store had been razed down to the ground. It was a gory sight, it was painful to look at.
Only a few hours ago, this store had housed all their hopes and dreams for a brighter future. And now, just like that, it was no more! Where it once stood gloriously was now an empty space filled with rising smoke and heaps of ash.
As was common in the time of extreme displeasure, all the pain and anger in the hearts of the girls were redirected towards one person- Mike! The demon spawn behind this terrible destruction was the one entity that responsible for this debacle.
As Lucas stood watching the smoldering heaps of ash, he was stunned at the length the man Mike had gone through just to make him unhappy. This was not just an act of pettiness like the break in before. No, this was an act of irrevocable destruction, borne out of hatred and spite.
Lucas had never wanted to do anything extreme. But as it stood, he had been pushed to the wall. This singular act of extremism had to be answered by an even more extreme act of violence. Yes, it was time.
With a new dark cloud of vengance hovering over him, Lucas turned away from the scene and beckoned on the girls.
"Come on, let's go. We've got a war to prepare for."
....
Meanwhile, the night gave way for dawn and day broke on the other side of the city. Lucas' unfortuanate incident did not make a dent on the grand scheme of things. Things progressing as usual in the capital city. Inside the palace, far away from prying eyes, the Grand Prince Leoneol was stationed at his work desk.
It was his usual place to be when he was not going about on offcial duties. There was always a pile of paperwork awaiting him, and today was not any different. While he would have loved to pass them to his underlings and secretaries, the fact was that a lot of the paperwork were confidential documents. Reports from spies, letters intercepted, surveillance reports, budget allocations and a whole lot more. They simply could not be entrusted to others.
Leoneol was an early riser and a work driven ruler. So,it was not surprising that barely an hour after sunrise, he was already buried behind a pile of paperwork. A gentle tap came on the door and Leoneol ordered the person in.
Without even looking up, he could tell that it was Jack. The man had a very peculiar way of knocking.
"Morning Leoneol."
"Morning Jack."
"There's been a recent development concerning our mutual friend."
"We have a lot of mutual friends Jack. Get to it already."
"It's the dancing ghost- Lucas."
Leoneol immediately straightened himself and leaned back in his chair. His eyes were dangerously hungry for the information that Jack had. "Well?"
"It appears he had a run in with some of the local thugs..." Jack then went on to report what had transpired during the dead hours of the night.
Leoneol listened attentively, not breaking focus at any point.
"So, do we reach out with our resources and connections to help?? I know he's a smart fellow, but this a street related issue. And we both know intelligence isn't worth a dime on the streets. Force is the only acceptable form of respect."
Leoneol replied without even the lightest trace of hesitation; "NO."
Jack was not surprised. "What are your thoughts?"
"This is his first real taste of adversity here. If I were him, I would not come to the Grand Prince who I mistrust for help. No, my guess is he would do the exact opposite and try to solve this on his own."
"That sounds like him. So, do nothing for him then?"
"Yes. Do nothing. I am actually interested to see how he's going to handle this situation. I have no doubt that we will be intrigued." Looking up at his mentee, Leoneol issued his order; "Watch him closely for now. I want every juicy bit of intel reported to me immediately."
Jack nodded and headed towards the exit.
"Jack?" he turned. "He's a slippery one, do not make it obvious that he's being watched. I want him thinking we have forgotten about him for now." He added lastly; "Oh, and of course, it goes without saying that you can intervene only when the situation is extreme."
.....
The Grand Prince was not wrong, Lucas actually had something interesting up his sleeves. Very rarely was he ever in the mood to teach an individual a lesson. Unfortunately for Mike, he was the unlucky soul that was to draw out that part of Lucas, and he had no idea just how dark it was going to be.
Lucas did not spare any time. That same day, he summoned the girls and issued them separate shopping lists with very queer ingredients, he then sent them off with enough money to acquire the. Now that he was basically at war, he acted under the assumption that Mike and the others were probably not done with their evil plans. So, Lucas factored into his plans that there was a possibility he and the girls were being watched.
Hence, his reason for sending off the girls to different locations and with different lists. Lucas knew they could easily take care of themselves in the event of a physical assault, so he wasn't worried on that front. He simply did not want to make it easier for them to be trailed.
Towards dusk, Lucas reclined on his front porch as he awaited the arrival of the girls. As expected, the prudent Monica was the first to arrive, followed by the playful Lolita and the careful Catherine. Without bothering with small talk, he collected the ingredients from the three of them and discreetly took them to the basement.
"I'm going to be locked in for a while. No one is to come in at any point in time. Understood???" he asked in his best 'dad' voice. They chorused a collective 'yes' and watched him disappear down the steps into the basement.
The others were comfortable with simply being on the outside, except Monica. The wave of curiosity bubbling beneath her was actively threatening to swallow her whole. She could not understand why the others were so calm about it.
"Aren't you guys in the least curious about what master is planning down there??"
"I don't know," Catherine was the one speaking now, "But since he expressly forbade us from disturbig his peace, I'm guessing it's something awesome.. Remember the thing he did to the ice wolves? I still have nightmares about that."
"My point exactly. He was able to do that in seconds without any preparation!! Now imagine what he's doing now that he actually has time and is focused."
Lolita blurted out a single word; "Gunpowder." The others looked at her as though she had spoken some foreign word. She explained further; "It's what I overheard him say earlier on. I think it's some kind of weapon of mass destruction..."
Gunpowder was something that had not yet been discovered in this world. So the whole concept of its meaning and application was lost on them. No matter how much the gossiped about it, their imaginations and theories did not come close to the thundering destrcution of gunpowder.
Without the help of the Heaven A.I system, there was no possible way Lucas would have been able to successfully recreate even a tiny portion of the terrible susbstance called gupowder. However, the system guided him every single step of the way, and he was able to accomplish his purpose.