On her last breath, she turns her head away from Ray and looks at Ian. Ray embraces his wife one last time.
RUSTLE. RUSTLE.
The humanoid like parasite emerges from the ground below. It slowly twitches and moves towards Ray. Ian sees the parasite and tries to call his father but his body doesn't listen to him and he watches the monster moving towards his father.
Ray tightly grips the Gale rapier. He puts her wife down and gently closes her eyes. He stands up once more. Behind him, the parasite extends his hand and tries to pierce Ray's back.
SLANG! A huge chunk of the parasite's body gets blown off. Ray turns back. His eyes showing no eyes sign of life. No anger. No denial. No grief. Just disappointment and regret.
Numerous magic circles start to form around Ray. The parasite regenerates itself and stands up again.
BOOM! A barrage of air bullets fires at the parasite. A small crater is created from the sheer power of that barrage. Despite this, the parasite still stands. Ray releases his hand and the rapier floats into the air. A complex magic circle glows on his right hand. He extends his hand forward and creates a bubble made of pure oxygen. The bubble swiftly flies and hits the parasite. It sucks the parasite in and begins to shrink in size. The Gale rapier zooms at the bubble and slashes in the air which releases a series of mana-based attacks, it cuts the parasite into billions of microscopic pieces. The entire crater is now filled with small white worms.
"F-Father." Ian calls for his father but Ray ignores him. The Gale rapier floats back into Ray's hands. The worms began to eachother. Ray grits his teeth. He takes a step forward. In Ian's entire life he never saw his father taking a stance for attack.
The man who devoured his enemies without using his legacy. The Lion of Dadelion sentinel family. Now, that person was going to use his legacy spell. A series of magic circles formed on the blade of the rapier. Suddenly the sky turned dark and wind began to flow violently. An intense amount of mana was gathering into the hilt of the rapier.
SWOOSH! White smoke came out of Ray's mouth as he opened it.
"By the blessings of the Horizon, the wind shall blow all my enemies away." A huge bubble of wind formed at the tip of the blade.
"AELOUS'S WRAITH!"
Ray strikes forward and a huge tornado emerges, it blows half of the forest. Creating straight path for 4 kilometres. The parasite is nowhere to be seen.
Ray turns back and sees a knight holding Ian in his arms.
"Prepare for the funeral and take my son home." He orders.
"Forgive me, milord. It took us too long to locate you." Ray doesn't answer and disappears into thin air.
Back in the Dadelion residency.
The old man enjoys his food as a beautiful maid serves him. Both of his sons, Joesph and Chris are in the room eating their lunch. A strong gust of wind comes and the glass window cracks a bit.
Everybody stops eating.
The servants and both Chris and Joesph don't dare to breath. "What's the matter, young lion?" The old man asks in a sarcastic way.
The maid drops a glass plate and runs away screaming. Ray is standing infront of the old man, releasing a large amount of killing intent. His hair floating in the air.
BOOM! In a brink of an eye the entire Dadelion residency was blown away. Both successors are alive and well as there is a barrier protecting them.
"I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING!" Ray appears next to the sentinel and attacks him with a series of slashes.
"I TRUSTED YOU!"
"AND YOU BETRAYED ME!"
The old man has an uninterested expression on his face. Ray's every attack is blocked by a barrier.
"YOU KILLED MY WIFE!"
TANG!
The old man catches the Gale rapier in his two fingers. "Wrong."
He pushes Ray into the ground with the sheer pressure of his mana. "What happened was sad. But you only lost a woman with insignificant background, I don't understand the tantrum. You always can marry someone with excellent lineage and I heard your son was born crippled? It would have been better if he had died instead of your wife."
In rage, Ray pushes his body to stand and punches the old man.
BANG! Ray's fingers break on impact. The old man lifts his hand and a large ice boulder comes out of the ground. He smashes that boulder into Ray's face. "I don't like rebellious cats."
Ray still tries to attack. "Don't make such face. Let's forget this. I will compensate you. That attack was originally planned on Joesph by Chris and me. But you interfered."
Ray makes an air bubble and it engulfs the old man.
"Interesting." The old man slightly touches the bubble and it breaks. "Sadly, you need 100 more years to able to defeat me."
Ray grabs the Gale rapier and takes the stance. "I WILL KILL YOU!"
"Oh?"
"AELOUS'S WRAITH!"
Like before a huge tornedo comes out. CRACK! Before the tornedo could fully form it freezes. The old man smiles as a light blue magic circle is formed on his hand.
"N-No." Before Ray could do anything, he is frozen alive.
The old man cracks his neck. "I am too old for these things."
He turns back. "Come out you two." Joesph and Chris come out of the rubble.
"F-Father. Is he alive?" Joesph asks.
"Of course. I can't kill a high knight without a reason or the king will get upset." Chris asks.
"Then, what are we going to do?" Joesph asks.
The old man thinks for a second. Suddenly, he points at Joesph and cuts his body in half.
"The young lion attacked my older son in envy of the seat for the next sentinel and killed him. Announce this tomorrow and kick the Phirsecots from our house."
"W-What about Ray's wife?"
"Got killed by the ancient parasite 'Koraet'. It's not like they can find any evidence about it."
"You planned about this?"
The old man looks up in the sky. "Just one of the many possibilities. You will know if you live as long as me."
He glances back at Ray. 'Such a waste.'
Back to the present time.
The sun is going down and the sky is turned bright red. Karl feels overwhelmed by the amount of crucial information he got in such short amount.
"I am sorry, for your loss." He pats Ian's back.
"Don't be. I am just incompetent son who couldn't protect his own mother. How am I able to succeed these people or this house?"
'I mean you are.'
"Look, Ian. I think you being too hard on yourself." Ian stands up.
"No. If I just protected my mother long father would have saved us. I wasn't strong enough."
"Fine. You weren't strong then but you can be strong now. Become the lord and surpass your father."
Ian looks at Karl. "Do you think I can?"
'Nope. Just recommend me and I be on my own way.'
"Yes, if you train hard enough."
"Thank you, Leo for listening to me."
"Anytime. Now, let's go and meet your father." Ian nods and both of them return back to the castle.
On the way back Karl asks in curiosity. "That ancient beast. Do you think it was the same one that I fought with Serena?"
"Don't be ridiculous, there are many times of parasites and the one my father fought was the ancient beast 'Koraet' It was said to one of the vicious creatures in the world. If left alone it can take over entire cities."
'Serena said something similar. Maybe I should ask Uncle Ray about it.'
Every servant is outside on the lawn waiting for their young master. Hector receives them and takes them to the Lord.
Outside the lord's office, Karl and Ian are standing. Ian hesitates to knock but Karl pushes him. The door opens.
Ray is sitting on a chair, doing some paperwork. He doesn't look at Ian.
"F-Father." Ray looks up.
"I am sorry for my earlier behaviour. Please forgive me."
"As long as you understand."
"And can you train me? I want to become stronger."
Ray's eyes lit up at that question. "Sure. Tomorrow 5 am, sharp." He grunts.
"Yes sir!" Ian salutes.
Both Ian and Karl proceeds to go out. "Ah! Leonard. Wait here, I ask you something." Karl shivers.
Ian gives a thumbs up to Karl. 'Hey! Help me you traitor.'
The door closes.
The atmosphere changes instantly. "What did you do to my son?"
"Nothing, I just listened to his tragic past and gave him some advice."
"He told you about Hes-"
"Yes. He told me everything."
Ray closes his eyes. "Then, that makes the explanation easy. Leonard Avaritia, as I stated earlier that I will recommend you in the knight succession tournament. On one condition, you will kill Chris Seland Dadelion for me."