Wars

Tension, it was something- or rather nothing but magi heavy in the air. Not a single word had been uttered as Ray decided to pull at the scarf hiding his stigma to get the ball rolling. Rose noticed it immediately and like a fire had been lit ablaze right then and there, she launched at her father.

"Rose!" Martha shouted, as Drilon simply stayed put while Rose's attack with a pure magi sword bounced off of the shield their father had installed.

>>

[magi sword] 

- a sword produced by nothing but coursing magi from the body]

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"I left this kingdom because of this shit!" Spat Rose as the rest watched on, the twins however seemed to approve of Rose's outburst. They watched on as did the rest while Martha decided to speak up once more.

"Rose dismantle that magi sword immediately! You may be our daughter but in the kingdom's eyes and it's people you just committed treason!" 'I can see now why our father loved her, she saw the people of this kingdom as her own too.' Ray smiled at this as he decided to initiate part 2 of his set up to have his father spill the secrets he'd been hiding from not only the kingdom but his wife. 'The corruption needs to be plucked from the root'.

Using some magi, Ray made a snake that slowly departed from his left leg under the table and slithered towards his father.

Meanwhile pointing her sword at her father Rose continued "I've seen war and death- father. I've seen good men woman and more risk their lives to defend against the new threat of invaders that I know you had something to do with"

'Rose is as on point as ever, her and viola both' Ray thought as he thought back to when Rose had been carrying him as a baby through the kingdom. She had started to talk to him about her intuition and didn't think much about relaying her info to him. After all Ray was a baby.

"My father is a corrupt man. He may love us and his kingdom but I know he does things that our mother surely wouldn't approve. I know I'm young to their- no the kingdom's eyes -but, I've seen the man my father converses with at night"

'Back then I didn't think much about the man she spoke of. That wasn't until I saw the man myself' Ray's thoughts darken to his betrayal as he remembered their conversation.

"Our greatest hero has fallen, I hope you uphold your side of the truce" 'a truce shrouded in lies. Rose had a good head on her shoulders- yet that head wouldn't amount to much if it was cut off.'

"You swore when you took the throne to protect not just this family- but the kingdom!" Yelled Rose as she sprung another attack as their mother kept yelling at Rose to submit.

"I do not recall abandoning my people Rose Ryjin." Lance and Ash seemed to agree on that statement but Rose was having none of it.

"But you did! You turned your back on our people and those of this world when you aligned yourself with those of the other world!" The twins flinched at this accusation, they had had run ins with a couple of otherworldly individuals and did not take kindly to their ways. Lance, Macey, Ash and Viola looked to their father for his innocence as Xion seemed to still know more than what he was giving off.

Martha who still wanted Rose to stop her actions even looked to her husband for the truth as Ray's snake coiled up his father's leg only to bite him while his guard was down. Ray's father feeling the bite swore and lost the last bit of patience he had left. Standing up he enforced his strongest aura attack causing all magi except Ray's to be dispersed. Rose's sword vanished and surprisingly Xion's 'solidifying' spell broke unknown to all except Ray and their father.

'Now why were you on guard?' Thought Ray, he knew Xion was a mysterious guy even when younger, he would barely converse with his older siblings. Xion hadn't even really seen Ray as a baby except really that time when Lance had spoken about the twins disappearance.

'I'm going to need to follow him a bit more these days.' Ray planned as their father then used the spell 'Authority' on his own family as he spoke.

"I do things the way I see fit. Whether that's for my family, the kingdom or myself, you are a young demon who has only seen war not wars. You may know hardship and pain but you have not lost those you have cared about while in arms. You have not felt guilt of their death as your own if you had been with them for over a century.

This kingdom flourished when I cut off war ties to our neighbours, we had peace and stability and even now we do. Whether that's through them or those of another world, I'll conduct business as I see fit!" He hissed like a man possessed but his words held a deeper meaning.

Ray who listened felt something- 'am I moved by this old man's speech?' He wondered as the line of hardship played through his mind to a day he accounted the guilt of a passing teammate.

-

"R-ay…" softly wheezed Márcia Silva.

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Márcia Silva

6th rank (at the time - 2020),

worldwide, 1st in Brazil

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"A-am I go…goin-g to d…die?" Her words weren't planned to hear ever as Ray held her in his arms. "No Márcia, we will make it, you will make it. The others will be here soon- just keep your eyes open for me okay?"

Márcia looked at Ray as though it was her first, Ray's brownish blonde hair and his green eyes had captivated her since the day they met. "H-hey" she breathlessly spoke, as the hole in her side gushed more blood than before causing Márcia to cough up some that then proceeded to seep down her lips and chin.

"I… kn-ou - I dou nt want to d-ie… b-ut…" with great effort Márcia lifted up her hand to Ray's face that now started to streamline tears. 'And here I thought you were too egotistical to care that much about others' she thought as she was glad she had been wrong, cause maybe now she could say it with no regrets.

"I lou ved ou…" Ray's eyes widened as Márcia had died with her eyes open after saying those final words.

"You fucken idiot" Ray cursed as he proceeded to close her eyes with his hand and cry with her in his arms like never before.

-

Ray thinking of that day felt sick but he needed to stay on track, he had a new life now. He needed to plan ahead and if his theory was correct, he would need to make his father talk.