A Familiar Parallel

Deafening roars echoed thought out the East Passage way to the Colosseum as the clash of swords and a shower of sparks conducted the perfect marriage of two opponents, head locked in a fearsome battle as both sought the blood and the end of the other.

The Red Barbarian wildly swung downwards, drool flying from its mouth as it rained hellish impacts on the little boy who stayed on the balls of his toes and pivoted to deflect the heavy strikes. Tanking them proved to only damage and weaken his joints, and even if he held fast, Lyze was not sure how many more he could take before his limbs were sore enough to put him at the monster's mercy...of which it had none.

He spun around from one deflection and slashed at the monster's abdomen, making it bellow in pain as it tried to retreat and gain ground to make usage of its long reach. The good thing about big opponents like these was that they had several blindspots from which they were easily attacked, just so long as you kept pushing its personal space.

The downside was that the possibility of being grabbed was actually very high. God knew what would happen when the brute did. 

Lyze pressed on, slashing as many times as he could at the Barbarian's abdomen, but cussed as he found that the most he could do was make small cuts in the monsters skin. It abdominal muscles felt like they were made of Adamantite. The Barbarian swung its own greatsword downwards, trying to catch Lyze by a vertical blow but the boy rolled through his open legs.

Once through to the other side, he unfolded from his roll and blasted the monster with a stream of lightning. The beast howled as it was electrocuted, arcs of lightning licking its skin all over. But after a few moments of agony, the Barbarian grit its sharp teeth, clenched its fist as it bore the pain and turned around to Lyze, taking slow, heavy footsteps towards him as the onslaught intensified.

Seeing that the monster was just adapting to his magic, Lyze stopped the stream and rushed forwards as it hacked at him like it were using an axe. Lyze side-stepped the telegraphed movement and jumped while spinning in the air, slicing a cut into the monsters cheek as he did so. The monster growled and stood up, kicking dirt into Lyze's face.

It was unfortunate that Lyze had actually landed on the ground by then and as was quite customary after having had your feet off the ground, he took a breath which inhaled some of the debris through his nose and down his throat. He coughed while holding Grigor in a guard position as he tried to fly up and evade. But the Red Barbarian was faster than he thought as a giant fist smashed into his stomach making him cough more blood as his body went sailing through the air and smashing into the cliff-face.

When the dust settled, Lyze was revealed in a crouched position, blood leaking from somewhere on his forehead as his hair was speckled with bits of dust. Lyze ignored his burning back and the pain from the mysterious wound that appeared on his face. He slipped Geranos off his belt and kept it in his left hand as a secondary weapon.

He then ran forwards again and jumped right at the beast, trying to slash at its eyes. But it was ready for him as it swept its own weapon through the air and collided with Grigor as sparks flew from the impact and sent Lyze digging through dirt with his heels. But the boy flexed his legs and leapt again as they began trading blows one more time, the ground shaking beneath their feet from the impact as Lyze danced around the Barbarian who was staying in one place, trying desperately to squish this tiny human.

Lyze deflected another strike with Grigor before slashing at the sword wrist with Geranos. But the dagger yielded the same results by only making minor cuts in its flesh. Excalibur would only give the same results so there was no point in bringing it out. Lyze ducked as the Barbarian tried to back hand him with its free arm. The air pressure of the limb passing over his head clipped some of his hairs as he grit his teeth at having narrowly missed having his temple caved in probably.

He stabbed Geranos into the Barbarian's thigh. He was more successful this time as the dagger went in about halfway making the monster screech in pain as it jumped. Unfortunately Lyze was still holding on to his dagger when this happened, so he was flipped into the air, leaving Hephaestus's gift stuck in the leg of the monster. Lyze landed on his feet as he eyed the small opening he'd made. The monster tenderly held its legs as it tried to pinch the dagger it between its index finger and thumb.

Lyze jumped forwards but at this point it had had enough. It charged forwards with its horns first. Taken aback by this blind rush of rage, Lyze held Grigor horizontally as the horns smashed into the red blade, cracking the weapon as it tried to run him into the wall again. At the last moment, Lyze teleported above the Barbarian as it smashed its head into the wall like a bull. Lyze free fell, cutting a minor gash into the monster's back as he did so. The Barbarian's back became ram-rod straight as it howled.

It reached into the cracked wall, withdrew a large rock and hurled it at Lyze. The boy pulled Grigor up into a guard position the rock smashed into several dusty fragments. Only to reveal the Barbarian upon him once again as it smashed its blade downwards right on top of Grigor. Lyze held his ground as the floor beneath his feet cracked and his legs began sinking under the force being exerted on him. His elbows wobbled as he desperately tried to hold back the attack. Soon enough, he began losing strength as the Barbarian started pushing its stone blade further down and closer to his head.

Lyze grit his teeth as he activated another skill which he didn't like using.

"{Perseverance}." He growled and the Barbarian slowed down in pushing its advantage altogether.

Lyze seized the moment and grabbed Geranos by the handle and channelled his Flame into the blade. Silver fire began to rush into monster flesh as the smell of cooked meat filled the air and the monster kicked forwards. Lyze let go of Grigor and quickly sidestepped the kick as both swords came down and stuck themselves into the floor as Lyze grabbed the outstretched leg.

His muscles burning, Lyze pulled the large leg as hard as he could with his vice grip around the beasts ankle and flew up into the air, taking the monster with him as he swung it around. Faster and faster they span a few times and the monster waved its weapon wildly, trying to get the boy holding him by the feet before Lyze let go and the monster went spinning across the ground, tumbling as it rolled into a crouch. Lyze telekinetically pulled Grigor out of the ground and dive-bombed the Barbarian as it brought its own sword up to deflect.

The resulting clash sent shockwaves through the air as debris exploded everywhere and the Loki Familia were peppered with pebbles and soil. Some were even knocked over by the air pressure. Lyze flipped back and inspected Grigor for a moment. Large, ugly cracks spread along the length of the blade while bits were chipped away. His main weapon was slowly expiring.

The Barbarian leapt out of the dust cloud as it tried to grab him in a death hug. But Lyze flipped in the air and round-house kicked it in the face as it stumbled and dug mounds in the dirt. He landed on its back and drove Grigor into the same cut he'd made before. This time it went in a few inches as the Barbarian began trying to reach behind himself to grab at the boy. But Lyze dodged the swipes and repeatedly punched as hard as he could in the back of its head, the punches sounding like two mallets smashing against each other as hard as their physical constitution allowed them.

The Barbarian then surprised Lyze as it twisted its skull in an awkward way so the horn caught on to his sleeve. Using that, it ripped the boy of its back and then swivelled its skull as threw Lyze away, like a bull. Its actions very much mirrored a minotaur. Lyze went sliding backwards and came to a stop nearby Finn and Gareth. The dwarf whistled at him.

"Having a bit of a rough time there are we?"

"Yes." Lyze said as he wiped some blood from his mouth. "But I can do this. I've made some progress."

"Minor injuries Lyze." Finn said. "You don't have a weapon in hand anymore. Draw your remaining sword." Grigor was still lodged in the monster's back. What was the equivalent of a small knife to it was lodged in its back at an awkward angle it could not reach.

"It'll slow him down." Lyze said. "And I don't need Excalibur, not for this fight."

The Barbarian then roared in anger and stamped on the ground, dislodging more rocks and the like. Lyze crossed his arms in front of his face but still winced as the little rocks felt like bullets smashing into his skin. He then heard a yelp to the side and looked to see Ais near him. She'd come to him to see how he was doing but a rock had clipped her on the forehead, leaving nasty mark that was definitely going to become a bruise later.

"Ais!" Lyze gasped as he saw the damage done to her before the Barbarian just appeared in front of him.

It tried a diagonal slash down at him with its stone sword. Lyze leaned out of the way but realized in horror that the large blade was headed towards who had been stunned by the rock to move out of the way in time. In a quick moment of panic, Lyze lifted his forearm and blocked the way of the stone blade.

He cried out in pain as the stone blade cut right into his arm and lodged itself halfway into his bone and blood began to spill from the arm. The Barbarian lifted the boy up using the sword and ploughed right through the Loki Familia with its great size and slammed Lyze straight into another wall. As Lyze's back hit the wall, he audibly heard and definitely felt something break but his back was in too much pain and the sword stuck in his forearm threatened to snap off the rest of his arm.

The monster then threw him and the sword at another wall as both boy and weapon were impaled into the wall. The smokescreen added to the darkness made it far too difficult for the Loki Familia to accurately ascertain what was happening. As Lyze tried to dislodge himself from the sword in his arm, the Barbarian rushed up and punched him in the stomach. Wind, blood and spittle flew out of Lyze mouth as now the front of his body was going up in flames with pain. The monster punched him a few more times with thunderous blows, each one cracking the wall even further as Lyze was pushed deeper and deeper into a crater.

Lyze however looked past the smokescreen, ignoring the pain and checking with Chaos vision to see if Ais was alright. His vision found the little girl near unconscious in Finn's arms as Riveria cast a healing spell over her. Rage filled Lyze as his blood began boiling and he grit his teeth before staring at the Barbarian with burning hatred in his face even as his intestines were being shred apart from the monster's punches. He clicked the fingers of his other hand, and Geranos which was still stuck in the monster's glowed with silver flames before an explosion rocked the area, clearing the smokescreen and making the Loki Familia gaze at the place where they'd last seen the pair.

Lyze was revealed to be clinging by the handle of Grigor that was stuck in the giant monster's back. Lyze channelled regular fire into the greatsword, to such a degree that it became slightly molten and Tsubaki's handiwork finally broke, the red blade shattering into fragments as some melted parts sunk further into the Barbarian's flesh. The monster screamed as some of its mane caught on fire from the molten material getting stuck in it.

It yanked the sword out of the wall and tried slashing at Lyze again. Armed with only a hilt now, Lyze swiped the air and reflected the physical attack back at the monster. It found twice its own strength brought back on it and a giant gash opened up spanning from its right shoulder to its left hip, one much deeper than the ones Lyze accomplished so far as it stumbled back and sought respite for a moment. The boy did not care though as he immediately rushed to Ais's side and looked at her in worry.

"Is she okay?!" He asked hastily.

"Yes she is." Riveria chided. "Don't just leave a battle! Finish it!"

"...Oh I will...you bet I will." Lyze said darkly as he took his hand off Ais's face. He then healed the bone-deep cut in his arm and let the dark rage consume him as he found a new, personal vendetta against the monster. 

He ran forward to the monster as it revealed its full form from the dust. Its thigh where the dagger had been lodged was now viciously blown open as it dripped with blood and mangled bits of meat and skin. Lyze descended upon it and began barraging it with a flurry of punches as his body began to glow silver. The Barbarian then tried to decapitate him with the stone sword but Lyze caught it in both hands though with very much effort.

The boy held steadfast and flexed his arms as much as he could. Cracks ran along the stone blade before it shattered completely into several fragments and the Barbarian stumbled back. Lyze then engaging in a fisticuff with it as they now traded punches, both shaking the ground with the impacts of their blows as each blocked and jabbed. Lyze ducked under a punch and with a hateful roar, delivered a fast series of deadly combo punches, targeting every vital spot he thought the beast had. He flew up and kneed the monster in the chin, making its head snap back as it was sent rolling.

Boiling hate and anger flowed through Lyze's veins at the sight and memory of Ais being hurt by this monster. Silver flames started to curl around his forearms before he screamed and released the Flame from his body. A tornado of silver flames swirled around the boy momentarily, blowing open his tunic and his coat as his upper body was exposed.

"{CRATUS}!" Lyze thundered as his muscles bulged, channelling the flames through his skill before the tornado of fire blasted outwards in every direction. The fire harmed no member of his Familia, simply phasing through the bodies and souls it was forbidden to touch, but plenty entered the body of the Barbarian as it stumbled back, holding its stomach as it felt itself being hit on the inside.

Lyze was revealed once more, tendrils of fire circling his forearm as his veins glowed with silver fire and every muscles bulged with unusual definition. Lyze roared and began slamming even greater punches into the monsters stomach now, Flame covering his fist as he relentlessly attacked the monster, ripples being sent all over its body. Lyze summoned Geranos and stabbed it into the monster's navel. The Barbarian let out a shriek as it leaned forwards in shock at having such a sensitive place being split by a blade.

Lyze jumped and jack-hammered the monster's skull into the ground, a crater forming beneath the the monster's head. Lyze then grabbed its horns and twisted its neck trying to snap it. But the monster resisted, making it even more difficult for something so large to be handled by a little boy. The Barbarian stood up lifting the boy with it, and Lyze swung himself around its head.

Silver fire roared around Lyze's fist as he repeatedly smashed his fist into the monster skull, bloody flying everywhere as both the skin off its head and the skin of his knuckles tore apart as he grabbed fistfuls of its mane and pulled backwards so its head was pulled back in an awkward position and ruined the monster's coordination as it tried to rip him off. 

Lyze paused for a moment as he drew his fist back as far as he could, roaring in anger as brought one last punch down on its head, snapping off one of its horn, leaving a bloody stump behind as the monster finally shook him off. Lyze flipped in the air and landed in his feet and beckoned the dagger back to him with Telekinesis as the Barbarian covered the bleeding stump on its head while squeezing the horrible mess that was its left thigh.

Lyze grinned at it, his smile vicious and victorious as he lifted his hand up in a familiar gesture. Finn's eyes widened as he realized what Lyze was about to do and internally smiled at this clever strategy. The point of all those failed slashes had not been to penetrate the monster at all but...

"{Disaster}." Lyze chanted as he snapped his fingers.

Every cut, wound and laceration on the Red Barbarian's body suddenly tore open and went even deeper as blood exploded from them and the monster's body jerked in a painful way as an onslaught of mind numbing pain hit it. Lyze thundered towards it and fed it a right hook that sent its limp body flipping into the wall again.

The Barbarian slumped, trying its best to lift itself up, but the cuts on its arm had gone bone deep and under its heavy weight, they completely snapped and it face-planted back on the floor. Lyze slowly walked up to the downed monster and lifted it by its remaining horn, blood dripping from its open mouth as it breathed painfully. 

"There is a line you don't cross when it comes to anyone. I have only one." Lyze whispered to it as he leaned towards its ear. "NOBODY touches my Ais."

Lyze slammed the monster back into the stone wall and repeatedly landed several combos as his fists left craters and holes in its body, the cracks in the wall behind the Barbarian growing even larger as Lyze drove it closer and closer to death. He finished his ruthless assault with a powerful uppercut to the jaw which smashed apart its jaw and blew its teeth out every where. The Barbarian's head slumped as its eyes slowly threatened to close permanently.

Lyze gestured with a hand, and the broken blade of Grigor flew into his right hand. With his left hand, he grabbed the remaining horn and held back its head as he levelled the sharp point of the splintered blade to the monster's throat.

"If you so happen to come back as a Xenos, which is unlikely since I'm about to devour all your life energy, then remember this." Lyze whispered to it threateningly. "Come near me or those I love, and you will see death as nothing more than the greatest mercy when I get my hands on you."

Without another word, Lyze drove the blade into its throat, blood spurting out and spraying him in the face. The monster tried to lift its mangled arms to grip his hands but Lyze was touched by nothing more than bloody stumps. Lyze channelled the Flame into the broken Grigor and an unbearable heat began to melt the stone wall behind the monster as its body was engulfed in silver flames.

It let out one last pained, and gurgled scream of defiance and hatred before it exploded into white dust and dropped behind its core. A moment later and the large remaining horn also fell with it. The horn glistened for a moment before what looked like a layer of dirt burned itself off revealing crimson ivory.

Lyze took a step back as he threw his head back and basked in the sensation of the Flame within him devour the release life force from the death of the monster. Vitality, energy returned to him and his aching muscles relaxed as he deactivated all his skills and his muscled body shrunk down to his more lean self.

Silently, Lyze picked up the core and the horn as he walked back towards his Familia, and they clapped and cheered for him. On the way he passed by Tsubaki and put the broken hilt in her hand. 

"I'm sorry Teach." He said sincerely to her. "I guess it was just its time."

"Yes. But...it did well." She said as she looked at him and the hilt fondly. She then looked down at the horn. "What are you going to do with that?"

"You can have it." He said as he pushed the large thing into her arms. 

"Huh?"

"Consider it a thank-you gift for Grigor. I did like that sword...it served me well too."

"...I don't know if I should call you lucky or unlucky kid." Tsubaki said before she smiled and ruffled his hair, then flicked out the blood that collected on her fingers from doing that. "But I'm glad you're alright."

"Thanks." Lyze said as he continued on towards his main goal. Ais was sat up looking at him with starry eyes. She looked to have been conscious by the time he'd killed the monster and he knelt by her. "Feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." The girl nodded before looking up at the elf who acted as their mother-figure. "Riveria's magic took care of me."

"You should be cheering lad!" Gareth grinned as he smacked his flat palm on Lyze back. "You just killed a level five monster!"

"Indeed." Finn said as he gripped his spear and smiled at the prodigy. "Honestly Lyze, I see why you progress so much. Because you just don't seem to be capable of conceding defeat. You keep hacking away until you're done with the job." 

"Thanks Captain." Lyze said as he slumped down on a rock and pressed his hands on his bare torso. "Man, my body's burning."

"Maybe it's to do with that strange fire you kept using?" Riveria raised her brow.

"Not that kind of burning." Lyze said. "We've been fighting so long now, I'm ragged, tired and sore. This has sure been one hell of a workout."

"And that's why it is almost impossible to get fat while you're an adventurer." Gareth laughed before he fixed Lyze with a strange look. "Those punches of yours near the end. It felt like they were shaking the entire floor. Did you grow stronger AS you fought that thing?"

"Maybe." Lyze said as he weakly lifted his hand and a plume of silver fire appeared in it. "For some reason, I don't need to wait for Loki to do a status update to gain what I have earned. One thing is for sure, though. I'm a whole lot stronger now than I was when we entered. A lot of stuff had gone down which has included my agony. I'd be appalled if I didn't get something out of all these ordeals."

"Speaking of." Riveria said. "Why did a Variant spawn here? Why were there so many monsters? We've dealt with spill-overs before from the colosseum but this was beyond abnormal."

"I don't know." Finn grimaced as he stood and stretched his back. "But I think we should hold off going to the colosseum. We'll go the other way round to reach our resting place."

"But it will take hours. We will lose the time advantage we have." Tsubaki argued. 

"Maybe, but neither your smiths nor our warriors are in shape to fight through endless monster hordes across the arena just so we can cut through the gates." Finn waved his hand over the whole company. "They are no different to Lyze here. It is a wonder that we haven't had any casualties after all that has transpired. Let's not tempt fate." Finn then addressed everybody present. "Alright people. Round up all the cores and drop items and put them in the carts. We're not out of the woods yet."

The Loki Familia collectively nodded before getting up and searching around in the shadows for any stray cores and items which they hadn't been able to collect due to the battle.

Lyze paused for a moment as he conjured a ball of water and stuck his mouth in to drink deeply from it. The cold water felt like heaven on his dry throat as he probably gulped down a litre unpaused. A tug on his pant leg brought his attention to Ais as she looked at him pleadingly. He smiled and brought it down to her so she too could quench her thirst.

Riveria shook her head as she smiled at this.

'This kid. Magic is one of the most scared arts ever, a force of power beyond just our crude flesh and the physical plane...and he uses it to have a drink.'

Sometimes Riveria wondered when Lyze would stop making her face-palm whether visibly or internally. Gareth coughed into his hand as he drew the boy's attention. Lyze looked up and saw the expectant look in all the faces of the executives besides Riveria. He sighed and conjured in front of them their own orbs of water to drink from. Feeling relaxed by the chill in his chest due to the water, Lyze stood up and decided to join the search for the monster stones and any drop items he could have missed as well.

Halfway through his search he stood straight with a bunch of stones in his arm as he once again called upon the Flame of Origin and it sparked to life in its palm. The heat of the flame bore down not on his flesh but his soul as he sensed a new intensity to this fire. It seemed that the more he consumed the life-force of those he killed and the more he channelled this fire, the stronger it became. 

Lyze concentrated more power into Flame and slowly, small crackles of silver electricity began curling around his forearm as his hair raised on end slightly. Fire was just a form of energy, just as lightning was a form of energy. If this Flame was supposed to be some fading ember from the effects of the Big Bang like his master had explained, then what if in reality the Fire was not actually that but just a pool of pure energy, just channelled into spiritual form?

Energy that played a part in creation, that took its first spark in the void of Chaos. Nothingness and the Beginning. Both of these powers that his body played host to, were symbolically the opposite of one another and yet they could do the same thing in theory.

Was that why this Flame was supposed to be as strong as Chaos, if not having the capability to surpass Chaos? The more life energy he fed to it, the denser it became, and provided him sweet Excelia in return. Lyze used the vision of Chaos to peer past his own locked Falna and at his status. His eyes widened as he saw the results.

---

STR: 583 D 

END: 604 C

DEX: 379 F

AGI: 541 D

MAG: 766 B

---

It had all been presumably zeroes at 'I' rank when they'd entered. And yet he had already come this far in just a few days of continuous fighting. Yes he'd been through quite a lot of burden and danger since he'd entered what with abnormal monsters, hordes, giant squids and bands of Evilus brigands armed with cursed weapons.

But did all of that warrant a jump this big? And they had only just entered the first of the Deep Floors. What would happen as they went further down? Whatever did happen, he owed it to his innate power. With its leech-like nature and being a natural Excelia farm, Lyze had no doubt he'd be ready to level up again when they turned back on this expedition.

...

Everybody was forced to pause as the ground began shaking as deep rumbling noises came from beneath the floor. Finn who was stuck in conversation with the executives over the next step of their plan was pulled away and made to listen carefully as he called upon decades of adventurer's experience to identify what was making these sounds.

His eyes widened as it finally clicked. "Worm Wells." Finn muttered before he amplified his voice and called out to all the adventurers. "Be on your guard! It's a Lambton!"

As Finn said that, a large shape entered Thread's range and Lyze looked down in alarm as the thing was right beneath his feet. The ground disappeared as open jaws snapped out of the ground and engulfed his body. Lyze dropped the cores in his arm, which unfortunately went down the throat of the monster as he stuck his arms out to the side, his palms pressed flat against the monster's hard palate and the surface of its forked tongue.

The monster that had got Lyze in its jaw was what was known by the lay man as a Lambton, although the official term coined to it was a Worm Well. It was a giant blue snake that had glowing red eyes and a mouth wide enough to casually swallow a baby elephant without even needing to stretch its jaws the way some snakes did when they ate things like eggs or live prey.

These monsters were a pain enough as due to their extremely long bodies, it was difficult to target vital organs or figure out where the stone could be. It was also infamous for being a rare monster that could easily wipe out a party of adventurers as this bastard species were able to dig between floors and surprise attack people. So although it was a level 4 monster, it did not mean a singular level 4 was all it needed to take it down. It needed several adventurers to kill it. And now Lyze had unintentionally fed it several cores from other monsters.

The Loki Familia wasted no time upon seeing their friend whisked away in its mouth. As the snake dipped back down to burrow into the ground, they dove straight for its body and managed to impale its body with their weapons. But some weapons either just bounced or it shook the weapons out as it concentrated on the prey already in its mouth. It swung its head from side to side as its gullet opened and closed, trying to dislodge Lyze so it could swallow him.

And unfortunately it was winning. Lyze was simply exhausted from his previous battle and due to the strain that had been put on him already by his skills, his muscles were giving away as his body began sliding further into the snakes throat. He had two options before him. One was to let the snake eat him. He had Excalibur with him so once he was in, he could just use the sword to cut himself out. But there was no telling the intensity of its stomach acid or if it would be underground when he tried to break out. Because if they were not in open air, then he would not be able force himself out.

The other option was to let Chaos do the job for him, and it was definitely more appealing. Having decided, Lyze let one hand go and put it up to his eyes, ready to pull the blindfold off. But faintly outside the snake's mouth, he heard a very familiar voice shout aloud.

"Not this time kid!" 

Which made his body freeze in both shock and surprise as that voice was the last one he'd expected to hear down here. A moment later, a tremendously heavy presence filled his senses, only serving to further confirm who had shown up out of the blue to rescue him.

The Loki Familia also heard this extra loud shout and they looked up to see a lightly armoured figure wearing a neckerchief and holding a large bastard sword over his shoulder. The executives narrowed their eyes at this newcomer as they too felt his overwhelming presence and they prepared themselves against the obvious hostile intention.

The man took a single step forward before he simply blinked out of existence. His path however was determined as sonic rings blasted towards the Lambton, too slow to even keep up with the actual moving object. As he rushed past the Lambton, there were hundreds of metallic flashes that looked like sword slashes, accompanied with the sound of slicing metal that all impacted the Lambton in a single instant.

The figure landed beside the Loki Familia executives in a crouched position with his sword arm held back like he'd just finished a slash. There was a pause before several lines appeared in the Lambton's body, oozing with blood before the body exploded into thousands of cubes of flesh and poofed into monster dust. The intact snake head fell beside them before it too disappeared into dust, dropping a dazed Lyze on the ground. Ais quickly rushed up to him and held him by the arms as he tried to sit up with the Executives surrounding him protectively, their weapons poised at the suspicious stranger.

"Identify yourself!" Finn ordered challengingly as the Pallum's blood ran cold. This stranger had not even registered moving in his senses and all those slashes which diced up the giant snake in a single moment spoke of power even above theirs. The first conclusion to come to Finn's mind was perhaps a remnant of the previous two stronger Familias as only they could be able to perform a trick like this...maybe. The thing was, he couldn't remember a face like that being a part of the Zeus and Hera Familias.

There was not a good history between their Familias however and the stranger's interest in saving Lyze put everyone on guard as the rest of the Loki Familia surrounded him in a circle with their weapons levelled at him.

"Did you not hear him?" Gareth gruffed. "Speak your name!"

The stranger was tall, very tall. Not as tall as Ottar but still taller than the norm. His face was extremely handsome, to the point where they had only seen such attractiveness in the faces of gods. He was black haired and green eyed, though his features were still a little younger than expected. His silence did nothing to appease them though and Finn's grip on his spear tightened.

As the Pallum made to move forward, Lyze grabbed the spear shaft and forced it down, causing the Loki Familia to pay brief attention to him. Lyze was blatantly staring at the stranger's face with no alarm on his face whatsoever and judging by the way he had his arms held out, he was trying to pacify everybody. Lyze then stayed sitting there for a few more moments before he addressed the stranger.

"...Master." Lyze said in a half-annoyed, half-amused voice.

...

""MASTER!!!" Everybody exclaimed as they stared between him and the man.

Nekros chuckled in a melodious voice as he hoisted his bastard sword over his shoulder and grinned widely.

"Hey kid, how's it going?"

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