While all that was happening in the academy arena, that same night, Relon and Lilla were having dinner alone as usual until one of the servants entered the dining hall and told the two to go immediately to the council hall, because the emperor wanted to speak to them. The two quickly got up and went; arriving at the entrance to the council hall they were advised to wait a few more minutes, because there was a war council meeting in progress inside. Relon and Lilla heard what was being said inside the hall.
"Isn't it enough that we are constantly being attacked by the damn Vermilion, do we still have to deal with this?" - said a man on the council
"Do you think this is happening because of the brat we brought here?"
"Don't be an idiot, this was already happening before"
"But not with this intensity"
"What do you intend to do, Milord?" - someone asked the emperor.
"How many men do we have on the front at the moment?" - asks the emperor.
"By the last report, we have approximately 18 thousand men, sir" - replies a man
"And how many men does Vermilion have?" - completes the Emperor
"Our scouts counted about 12 thousand Milord, although it seems that Luck, of the Bloody Blade, was on the front" - replies the man again
"Damn, so that's why Marcus went there!" - thinks the emperor.
"And what about the adventurer's guild? Can we hire them.." - says a random man
"Maybe this is our only option, we can't withdraw the men from the front at this time!" - says the emperor
"The real big problem, my lord, is that we are losing massive support from some nobles, and we can't take actions that are too severe, because that could cause another civil war" - says another random man
"I already have something in mind to deal with them" - responds the emperor.
"At least with the most influential families" - concludes the emperor.
A few minutes later the emperor ends the council and dismisses all who were there and immediately summons his children into the hall, suddenly someone arrives with the two to enter the hall. It was Aster Artal Aquarion the second daughter of the emperor, Aster had the characteristic blue eyes of the family, however her hair was brown like her mother's. When she comes in she sees her younger brothers there and says:
"You brats too? I thought it was just me who had been summoned here"
The brothers paid no attention to what she was saying, after all they didn't have much contact. They approached the emperor, knelt down and the emperor said:
"You may rise."
"I called you here because I have something to inform you."
"You know that as only one will inherit my throne, the others must fulfill their duty to the family in other ways!"
Relon at that moment, looks at Lilla and notices she had a face of terror.
"Aster, you will marry the firstborn son of the Felwave."
"Relon and Lilla will marry the two sons of the Legra."
In front of the emperor there could be no form of disapproval, especially from his children, they have all been since small to behave when it comes to being in front of their father. Aster maintained on her face a look that she had not yet understood while Relon just lowered his head and Lilla with teary eyes, remained firm in front of his father. None of them wanted to show weakness in front of the emperor, and they all yearned for their father's approval; the emperor gets up from his chair and leaves the room, leaving the children behind.
When the emperor left the room, Aster said:
"After us, the Felwave are the most influential and powerful family in the empire, I don't think life will be bad, as long as I can have what I want."
Aster had a consumerist and vain personality, she never had anything special and never tried to be anything special. However, she was not stupid at all, and she had already imagined that this would happen at some point, so she was already prepared for what was to come, and to her joy the Felwave were of high esteem throughout the empire.
"But the Legra? Hahahaha !! It seems you brats got unlucky, you'll be part of the pig family, hahaha" - Aster ends, laughing and leaving the room.
Not so different from the Felwave, the Legra were also a family of high esteem in the empire, but unlike the Felwave, they owned many lands throughout the empire and with this raised animals for consumption and grew soybeans and other foods necessary for the growth of the empire. They had the largest fortune in other of all the families in the empire and clearly the emperor had his eyes on this. The Felwave did not have so much land, but their family was blessed with a unique magic class that only they possessed. The sons of this family were implacable magic warriors and very powerful.
Relon turns to leave too, but noticing that Lilla was still standing in the same position, he turns and calls her to leave, when he realizes she was weeping copiously, but without making any sound, Relon without having anything to say, just says:
"Unfortunately, this is our life" - he speaks leaving at once from the room.
Lilla remained for a few minutes in the room, until wiping away her tears, taking a deep breath and leaving the room. Leaving there she meets her older brother, Morfrey Angelus Artal Aquarion; a tall, handsome man, short golden hair like it's normal in the family and deep blue eyes. He notices that Lilla was crying, wipes her face and says:
"Hey, if it isn't Sunflower, why are you crying?
"What did I tell you?!"
"Be strong, so that no one can rule over you!"
Lilla realizing it was her older brother, she simply loses all her composure, gives him a strong hug and cries copiously in his arms:
"Where were you, you've been gone for 3 months?" - says the girl crying.
"Calm down, calm down" - speaks Morfrey, caressing her head.
Morfrey was the pride of the Aquarion, he was an excellent water mage, had excellent fencing skills, an excellent reputation. In addition to nobles, Morfrey was adored by the entire populace and when he walked the streets he was treated as if he were already the new emperor; He was known as Morfrey, the masterpiece of the emperor. Noticing that the father did not give much attention to Relon and Lilla, he always treated them very well, with the love they did not receive from their own father.
"You can't abandon me like this brother," Lilla says tearfully.
"Sorry, it's that as the oldest son, I have many diplomatic matters to deal with, you know that," Morfrey says, still caressing Lilla's head.
Suddenly, Relon runs up and gives Morfrey a strong hug that almost knocks him to the ground and says:
"See who seems stronger now, almost knocked the big bro down to the floor," Morfrey says with a smile on his face.
The siblings hugged there for a while before each going to their rooms. On the other side Suzannah and Clara were still waiting to see what would happen with that scene; Clara was still incredulous about what Suzannah was plotting, but agreed to wait since Suzannah was Master Tiberius's master. Suddenly a strong light emanated from the hole made by Suzannah before in Kal's chest and as if by a miracle that monstrous wound was restored in an instant. Clara, frightened, said:
"But how? How is this possible?"
Then Kal quickly opens his eyes, emitting a strong yellow light, and slowly gets up. Kal looks at Suzannah, smiles and says:
"Thank you for showing me the way."
Clara approaches Kal and touches his chest where he was injured before and still unbelieving says:
"This cannot be true. Nobody has the power to return from the dead. Nobody has the power to bring others back from the dead. Who are you really?"
Kal with a serene smile says:
"I am Kal Launno, you already know me."
Suzannah, who was seeing this scene, only saw a black vortex opening behind Kal and Clara, shouts:
"Careful!!"
A strange creature comes out of the vortex, with the posture of a man, shirtless, with darkness wrapped around his body, bright blue eyes, and his body marked with evil marks holding a small two-bladed glaive; attacks fiercely Kal who just pushes Clara away and hits the creature away with a punch. Suzannah holds Clara, who flew back, and says:
"Careful young man, come closer to me because I will protect you and the girl!"
Kal just looks at the teacher with a strong contained yellow glow eyes and smiles, Suzannah realizes that something happened while Kal was dead and that apparently he returned more mature and stronger than before. Kal turns back to the creature and gets into a defensive position while the creature attacks him again...
The creature attacks Kal again but he easily dodges and hits it with another powerful blow to the face. Once more the creature attacks Kal, but again the young man dodges and lands another powerful blow, this time hitting its ribs and making it jump back, spitting blood. Seeing that Kal seemed much stronger than it expected, the creature now turns to attack Suzannah and Clara with greater power, opening a large hole with the power of its glaive. The small Suzannah conjures the Divine 5th circle Magic: Divine Protection over Clara and quickly dodges the creature's attack. She positions herself next to the creature and says:
"You think just because I'm without my powers now I'm weak?"
"I'm still the Red Queen."
"Elemental Magic of 3rd circle fire: Propulsion."
Suzannah concentrates the fire in her hands, propelling the creature's body away and burning it, leaving it more injured than before. Clara, frightened, looks around and sees the large cut made by the creature's glaive and can only think that if it weren't for Suzannah's protection, her body would have been split in half. The creature, seeming very angry, simply screams loudly and once more attacks Kal, who again takes up a defensive stance. With the movement of a punch, he doesn't touch the creature but the generated energy was so great that the dark energy surrounding it dissipated and its strange skin began to crack and crumble, revealing a normal man who fell to the ground. Suzannah goes to the man and after quickly analyzing realizes that that body was already in decomposition and seemed to have died some time ago. Kal, looking at him, simply says:
"I know they are after me."
"And I know I need to defend myself from them."
"Now more than ever, I need you to guide me."
Suzannah, looking at Kal, says:
"I promised to guide you before, and I will."
Suzannah tells Kal she will study the body, and before she could finish speaking with Kal, Clara quickly approaches and kneels before Suzannah, saying:
"Please let me be your apprentice?"
"Master Tiberius cannot teach me anymore, and I need to get stronger."
Suzannah, feeling the girl's determination, says:
"I'm not like Tiberius, I'm much stricter and more demanding."
"If you think you can handle it, then I will be your master," finished Suzannah extending her hand to Clara.
Rising from the ground, Clara shakes Suzannah's hand and the three leave the place with the body.
The next day, Lilla was leaving for the Academy when she saw Morfrey in an isolated room. She runs to hug him by jumping on him again, but when she hits him Morfrey moves away and says:
"Careful Sunflower, I fell from my bed yesterday and it seems I hurt some of my ribs."
Looking closely, it seemed he had a bruise on his face too. Apparently worried about him, she asked if he was alright, then Morfrey replies:
"I was training, I think I overdid it again!!"
Morfrey lowers his head, and immediately Lilla kisses his face and says:
"Don't overdo it brother, you don't have to prove anything to our father."
He gives a smile and once again caresses Lilla's head, sending her to the Academy. Relon was already waiting in the carriage.
On the other side of the continent, in a region where the sun's light never reaches, 4 beings are conversing:
"I found the primordial light" - said a terrible feminine voice.
"Where did you find it?" - says a voice that blended with insect buzzing.
"He is in the Empire of Nannu" - replicates the feminine voice.
"But it's on the other side of the continent" - says a strange voice that scratched.
"It doesn't matter the distance, I want him for myself" - says the voice blended with insect buzzing.
"I found him, he will be mine!" - responds the feminine voice
"Hahaha, Slothor will devour" - says a muffled and ominous voice
"Where is Endbringer?" - asks the scratching voice
"I haven't seen him for 300 years" - replicates the voice blended with insect buzzing.
"I don't care where Endbringer is, I called you here to say not to get in my way" - interrupts the feminine voice
"You never learn Sucubbus, I will get him first" - concludes the scratching voice disappearing.
"He will be mine!!" - concludes the voice blended with insect buzzing, also disappearing
"Slothor will devour him" - says the muffled voice before also disappearing
"I will not lose the primordial light, This is War" - concludes the feminine voice before also disappearing.