***
Lucius is currently unconscious on the ground. He had lost a lot of blood and ended up exhausting all of his spiritual mana in that impossible battle that was always lost from the start.
Zaphyris could have killed him with that last attack, but she didn't. She had left him alive and no one understood what was happening.
Their expressions were confused, and the tension still lingered in the air.
A few minutes later, Zaphyris approached Lucius.
With an elegant posture, she sat beside him and placed Lucius' head on her legs while caressing him softly and gently.
"Wolf," she finally said.
In less than a second, Wolf appeared beside Zaphyris and knelt beside her as he awaited her next order.
"Use Emperor-level holy magic to restore Lucius."
"... As you command, Zaphyris-sama." Wolf proceeded to place his hand on Lucius and recite the spell that required verbal incantation.
"Oh Great Holy God and your divine mercy, who after looking towards the gray sky and the desolate lands that were scourged by the barbaric hammer of war, and those who cry over your prayers: now comfort the defenseless victims with a vigorous force of will necessary to continue among the ashes of the disaster"
Suddenly a light enveloped Lucius' body as his wounds slowly healed while his limbs grew back.
It was a miraculous scene, but his recitation did not stop there, the spell had not ended and Wolf continued with the advanced holy magic spell.
"Give your blessing! Great Sage of the Eternal Tear, that the fallen will remember their ways and the souls that enjoy life will be those who will maintain their legacies beside the Chalice of the Luminous Phoenix. Now with good will upon this our ancient state of peace, that the rebels will be the avengers of your strong will."
After several minutes, Lucius' body had been completely healed and the spell had ended.
Once again the room fell silent.
All the people who had been watching the duel from the beginning had already left their seats and walked towards Zaphyris who was holding Lucius on her legs.
"What will you do now, Zaphyris-sama?" Wolf asked.
Zaphyris simply stroked Lucius' head as she thought about what she would do.
"Aphril," she finally said.
With that, Wolf automatically understood the answer.
Aphril stepped forward and sat next to her mother, right next to Lucius.
She already seemed to know why she was called and did not need any explanations.
Aphril was born with a very peculiar singularity: she can reflect the memories of the person's soul. And Zaphyris would use it at this moment.
Those thoughts also crossed the minds of Wolf, Ryujinzhu, the perceptive Farys, and the rest of the people inside that room.
"Before this…" Zaphyris said to everyone present in that place. "You must promise that what you see here and what you have seen so far, must remain in this place…"
There were no words to describe the look Zaphyris directed at each of those present. They all nodded and promised not to tell anything even if it costs them their lives.
"You can trust us, Zaphyris-sama, we are in this together now and we are aware of what is happening." Ryujinzhu said, speaking on behalf of all the princesses and the others who nodded with strong determination.
His promises do not seem empty...
Zaphyris thought to herself and then gave the order. "Do it."
"Yes." With that answer, Aphril proceeded to close her eyes and place her hands inside Lucius' chest, right where his spiritual center was located.
Suddenly a ball of water formed from Lucius' chest and began to slowly rise as it gradually grew larger.
Everyone present had their eyes glued to that floating ball of water waiting for what would be reflected.
Everyone seemed unusually eager... or rather, all the princesses were overly intrigued: and standing out among them was Ryujinzhu.
"Eh...?" Aphril said in bewilderment.
"Is something wrong?" Zaphyris asked.
"Well…" After some thought, she continued. "It's all very confusing and weird…"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know where to start… he didn't come because he wanted to… but because of some kind of accident… I think so."
"I understand, show us everything from the beginning, so we can judge what happens"
With those words spoken, Aphril proceeded to show everything in the floating water ball as if it were a movie.
Poor Lucius had been left completely exposed to those people...
"Sakurada... Kujo?" Zaphyris muttered in bewilderment.
The first images were of a different place: Lucius was sitting on a strange mechanism that was traveling at high speed along a strange stone path that was in the middle of the mountains. Next to him were other young people who seemed to be students from some strange place.
Everyone who was looking at those images could understand what they were saying because they were using their spiritual circuits for linguistic understanding. But they could only hear it, but could not read it or speak it.
"They are students," Galystia said. "But they do not come from the Divine Empire Realm."
Galystia was the one who was under the most pressure for three months since Lucius appeared in the Palace. He was a human intruder and if he committed any atrocity, it would severely tarnish his reputation as part of the human race and also from the political side.
Galystia also helped keep Lucius under surveillance and wanted to take charge of executing him if Zaphyris had asked her to do so from the start. But Zaphyris stopped her and wouldn't let her take on such a huge responsibility on her own.
"That's clear," Ryujinzhu said.
"Are they…" Galystia murmured, then continued. "Are they from another world?"
"Oh? Do you think that is possible?" Ryujinzhu replied. "I won't deny that there could be other places other than the one we live in."
"I just think of it as something random..."
As the scene unfolded, Lucius was meeting a girl but ended up in an accident and died tragically on a mountain.
Everyone was shocked by the scene. Some even felt a little sorry for him.
"At least we know that Lucius is someone with a noble enough heart to risk his own life for others," Zaphyris said with a smile as she stroked Lucius' hair.
Suddenly the projection went dark and no longer reflected anything.
"That's all?" Ryujinzhu asked with intrigue.
"No," Aphril replied. "This is where the strangeness begins." When he said that, everyone was taken back.
There was a sudden scene change where Lucius was standing in a palace floating above the sky. After that, he met a woman whose attire was divine.
"Oh? How interesting," Zaphyris said.
"What thing Zaphyris-sama?" Wolf asked.
"There are two things: the first is that this woman looks like a Goddess of Sacred Magic and her race is the same as ours."
"That's true"
"And the second: what we are witnessing is an act of reincarnation." Everyone was astonished when they heard those words.
Except for Wolf and Ryujinzhu, who already seemed to know about it since Lucius suddenly appeared in that place after he had apparently died.
That was the work of an ancient sacred art that is currently prohibited.
Lucius began to talk to the Goddess of unknown name and everything seemed almost natural, until a whole confusing conversation developed and few seemed to understand it.
After that, she took out a necklace and activated a spell that made Lucius travel through time and arrive at a place known to everyone: the Northern Quaramis Palace.
"This… is impossible to believe unless I see it with my own eyes," Galystia said. Farys and Ruby nodded in agreement, but they didn't know what to say about what they saw.
"I think the same," Ryujinzhu added. "But there is no doubt: what that Goddess did was to send him from a distant future with a Time Travel art of the Dragon People."
Everyone was left in deep thought at those words. Ryujinzhu had already figured out what had happened and no one, except her, knew the Ancient Arts of the Dragon People.
"It seems that Lucius has a great weight on his men: the destiny of saving a world where we will all lose in the end..." Zaphyris's words echoed throughout the hall and no one said anything about it.
Asthia, who had been silent all this time, was visibly frustrated and afraid of everything she had seen and heard. "So he came back…" She muttered to herself.
"It would be best not to get in this boy's way," Zaphyris said, and added. "But he will need our help to do so..." Those words were directed especially towards the princesses. "We know it won't be easy and we will hardly be able to do anything together, but I count on you for a better future… the future of all the kingdoms," Zaphyris added.
Lucius won't be alone in this.
Zaphyris thought after that.
They had already decided.
At that moment, Aphril continued to show a little more to see what Lucius was doing all this time. But there was nothing they didn't already know.
The first one he met was Zaliph, then Wolf and Zaphyris.
He was taken to the palace and after that...
"Huh?" Aphril blushed.
Everyone saw and heard those bold promises Lucius made when he first saw Aphril.
The princesses covered their mouths in surprise at such flattery and looked at Aphril in disbelief.
"Mom!" Aphril screamed in panic.
"Is something wrong?" His tone was unexpectedly calm. Or so he seemed to make out.
"W-why d-did you say those things!?"
"Oh? He was the one who proposed it. I was just doing my duty to bring out my daughter's best side when a man proposes to her in the future."
"That's no excuse!" With a red face, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. "He's an idiot!" She added those cruel words…
The scene continued to develop and Aphril's silhouette appeared more and more with each moment.
Lucius seemed to be watching Aphril a lot.
"It seems like he's been watching you this whole time," Farys said.
"So Lucius likes Aphril... it was to be expected" Galystia murmured but in a voice that everyone could hear.
"I didn't think Aphril would be this aggressive and flashy to guys…" Ruby said, adding fuel to the fire.
They all seemed to do it intentionally.
Aphril didn't know where to hide her face and covered her face. She was embarrassed, and the girls seemed to enjoy her adorable reaction.
Zaphyris also smiled at her daughter's reaction.
The section was finally over.
Lucius was always right: he never had any bad intentions. And that has just become clear to Zaphyris.
What will happen now?
That was the question everyone had on their faces as they looked at Zaphyris.
Nobody knew what was going on in his twisted head...
Now that the princesses will be on your side, you will be my property and you will serve only me.
Lucius Quaramis, I will make you my subordinate and you will enjoy the surname that will guide you to glory.
I won't let you leave me.
And if any kingdom were to try to steal you from my power, I would not let it happen while I live.
I will make sure you never get rid of the Quaramis and you will die under that name...
Those were the thoughts Zaphyris had as she caressed Lucius who lay asleep on her lap.
Suddenly Lucius began to stir. He looked like he was about to wake up.
"Oh? He's going to wake up…" Zaphyris murmured. "I've already made up my mind," she added, looking at everyone present in that place.
The greedy and malicious Zaphyris had already decided that from the beginning and everything developed as she wanted: now it turns out that Lucius has a great future ahead of him and he has the small support of the seven princesses of each continent.
Now you have both at your disposal.
That was something Lucius would later wonder about: whether it was really the right thing to do or something that was completely outside the plans of that Goddess who had entrusted him with an important mission.
Was Zaphyris really that good?