Alia Shadowborne

Asura was smiling on the outside but was sweating inside. What did this girl want ? Did she want to talk about the 5 billion dollars he 'burrowed' from her ?

Nevertheless, he couldn't find a reason to refuse."Of course, my lady."

....

As they were walking in the garden. "So, what did you want to talk about, my lady ?"

Alia smiled. "I just wanted to get to know you better, Lord Asura."

Seeing her say that made Asura more uncomfortable than he would've if she asked for her money. It reminded him of those fake nobles that he despised so much.

"If you want to 'get to know me' cause I'm the grandson of Arthur, you shouldn't bother. That might've been a grand title 10,000 years ago, but now I pretty much hold no power in Atsolaes now."

Alia looked at him in surprise, then gave a cheeky smile. "You're the first person to say that so boldly. There are people who don't like being approached merely for their titles, but they either don't show it or stop caring when it is a pretty lady approaching them."

Asura smirked. "So, you do agree that you're here because of my position."

Alia just smiled. "You could see it that way, but not really. You are quite handsome and quite strong, but the main reason I 'want to get to know you' is because my parents want me to 'want to get to know you'."

Asura gave a light chuckle at her boldness. "And you called me bold. I think I like you better like this than when you act like you 'want to get to know me '."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Asura was confused about something. "So, didn't you want to talk about something else. Maybe, something you lost during the night of the auction ?"

Alia shook her head in confusion. "What do you mean ? I don't remember losing anything important that night. I lost a little money, but that's it."

Asura's outer reaction didn't change, but inside.....'What do you mean, a little money. That's 5 billion dollars, not just some pocket change.'

Alia's eyes turned cold. "Unless you're reminding me that I 'lost' the battle that day ?"

"Why would I do that ? If I wanted to do that, I would've done that as soon as the battle was over, not right now."

Alia regained her smile. "Then, what were you talking about ?"

Asura just smiled. "Never mind that. It's nothing of concern then."

Alia just shrugged it off.

They walked in silence for a while before Alia spoke up again. "What's it like ?"

Asura was confused. "What do you mean ?"

"Atsolaes, I mean. I've always wondered. My grandfather said that it's a nightmare, said it was a terrifying place and the only reason he still loved the place was because it was home. My father and mother though, said that it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen, and even heaven fell short of it. What about you ?"

Asura understood why. Cassius was a man who grew up in an era of war and destruction, so obviously it was hell for him. While Silas grew up when Arthur was king, so it was beautiful to him who only saw war when he had lived for almost a millennia.

"It's neither. But I would say it's gonna be like how your grandfather described it soon. And, we can only hope it will become like how your father described after that."

Alia seemed to understand what he was saying. After a while, she said."You know, I really want to go even though you say it's going to be terrifying soon."

Asura raised his eyebrow."Why so ?"

"You know, ever since I was born, they called me a great genius, people outside the family, I mean. My family wasn't that impressed, though. I understood why when I learned where we came from.

At that time, I thought this world was too boring. No, I suppose I still think so. They were quick to crown me a genius magician. But, it actually made me angry than happy. These people, calling me a prodigy when I'm barely average.

To be honest, I can see why they did so though. There are no such extraordinary people in this world. Your friend, Zereth, is perhaps the only real prodigy in this world. I mean, when you compare the prodigies of this world to actual prodigies like King Arthur, a transcendent at 45 and level 15 magician at 50, Lord Sieg Dragonhart, who reached transcendent at 74, and of course Lady Phoebe, who was said to be almost as powerful as King Arthur, these people are somewhat worthless.

I mean, they call me the prodigy of this generation, when you're one level above me in magic and also a level above in swordsmanship despite being 3 years younger. The more I hear, the more I realize. Wouldn't you say that Atsolaes is much more interesting than this boring place ?"

Alia's eyes weren't as cold as they normally were when she was giving an entire speech on how this place was boring.

Asura was hearing her talk in amusement. This girl had a lot to say, didn't she ?

Should he break it to her that Atsolaes didn't have manpower nearly as strong as before and that she would still be considered a prodigy in Atsolaes as well ? Well, maybe not generational prodigy but still.

She seemed to be a soldier level, and from what Asura had seen, she was very close to general level in sword aura. Probably would be general level within a year. As for magic, at least in mana training, she was the most talented he had met beside himself.

Alia saw Asura looking at her and got embarrassed. "Why are you looking at me like that ?"

"Ah, excuse me. You just looked so beautiful when you were talking, Lady Alia. Please, continue."

Alia's face turned red and it can be said that she didn't want to continue after that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oi, ginger." Zereth's voice rang out.

"My hair is as red as your blood and you're calling me a ginger. Were you born retarded or was it forced upon you due to the environment you grew up in ?"

Zereth's lips twitched. Why did he even say that ? "Can you spend a second without insulting someone ?"

"I can, but if I will is a completely different question. What the hell are you doing in my room ?"

Zereth shrugged. "Don't you think that the son is a bit suspicious ?"

"Which one ? Lucas ?"

"No, the other one. He didn't really seem to like it when they said they would join you."

"I guess you noticed that too. Don't worry too much about it. The only one who liked it, per say was Lord Cassius. They'd feed me to the wolves if he wasn't alive today and I explained the situation. He just was the worst at hiding it."

Zereth shrugged and then switched the topic. "So, what's with that chick ? Are you two timing my sister ?"

Asura looked at him dumbly. "We aren't even dating ? What do you mean, two timing ?"

"Besides, I've got better things to do than dating, let alone two timing someone."

Zereth raised his eyebrow. "Really ?"

Asura looked at him in confusion. "And why are we talking about this anyway ? Aren't you supposed to like, threaten me not to break her heart and what not ?"

Zereth shrugged. "Meh. What are you doing anyway ?"

"Texting."

"Texting who ?" Zereth looked at his phone.

Asura : Hey, Me and Tanwen won't be returning tonight. Just wanted to let you know.

Liz : Oh, okay. Did something happen ?

Asura : Nah, we just met a friend of mine.

Liz : Alright.

Asura : (sad face) Aren't you supposed to say you'll miss me so much right now ?

Liz : Aww... Of course I'll miss you.<3< p>

And so on.....

If you thought that was the end of their flirting, it got very much worse from there. And of course, Zereth read all of it.

Zereth accusingly pointed a finger at Asura. "What do you mean, not dating. All that's left is for you to sent heart emojis and kissy faces to each other. Oh wait, you did that."

Asura raised his eyebrow. "So ?"

Zereth was about to say something but just sighed and held it in.

"Oh. I thought you'd be heading for my throat by now. You're strangely calm."

"Better you than that other brat."

"Her fiance ? Why are you guys planning to marry her to someone who she probably hates the most in the world anyway. Political bullshit ?"

Zereth confirmed. "Political bullshit. I'm surprised you weren't in an arranged marriage."

Asura raised his eyebrow. "Who told you I wasn't ?"

Zereth looked at him in shock. "You were ?"

"Well, about 2 years ago. Haven't been in one since I murdered her entire family cause she was a bitch."

Zereth stared at him dumbfounded. "You're actually insane."

"What ? Found out she wanted to drug me on my birthday with a permanent love potion to make me completely devoted to her. Convicted her whole family of treason and guillotine we go."

Zereth nodded. "Say it like that. The way you said it earlier made it sound like you did it cause you didn't like her."

"Oh, I did do it cause I didn't like her. Bitch acted like she was the only reason I existed. The love potion was just an excuse."

Zereth was confused. "Wait, so she didn't use a love potion."

"She did. But, I was the one who fed her the idea through a servant of mine."

Zereth looked at him in horror. "I do not take it back. You're insane."

Asura raised his eyebrow. "You want a cookie or something ?"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal a maid who gave a bow and spoke. "I am here to inform you that dinner is ready, my lords."

Asura smiled and answered her. "Of course. We'll be down in a minute."

The maid blushed, but fought it back, only one sentence repeating in her mind.'He's 15. He's 15. He's 15.'

As the maid left, Zereth turned to Asura. "What was that ?"

"What ?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You must've used some kind of spell."

Asura realized what the guy was talking about. "You see, my friend that's called being good looking. It's not really an active skill that I do when I want, more like a passive skill, if you may."

Zereth knew Asura was mocking him. "Cut the crap. They call me one of the 50 most handsome guys in the underworld. Being good looking earns some points, it doesn't make them redder than your hair. Plus you're 15. You turned her into a pedophile."

Asura genuinely didn't know how to respond to him. He wasn't using Charmspeak or anything, he wasn't even trying to seduce her. "See, top 50 in a single realm doesn't really cut it. When you're top 10 in the universe, then we'll talk. Till then, gotta survive with your ugly ass."

Zereth's lip twitched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why the hell didn't you tell me he eats like a dog ?" Asura whispered to Zereth.

"Don't pin this on me. You had seen how he eats before."

"Yeah. But I thought he knew how to eat properly and was eating like that only in the safety of the house."

"Well, seems you thought wrong."

Silas coughed. "Lord Asura, it seems your friend has a peculiar way a eating."

Asura was full on embarrassed. "It does seem so. I apologize for that."

"Oh no, it's fine."

Cassius spoke up. "So. You were talking about a plan to take care of the situation. Am I to assume we will be attacking them before they attack us ?"

Asura nodded. "Indeed. But that won't be enough. We need to make them reveal the gate to Atsolaes, so that we can seal it."

Cassius raised an eyebrow. "Why seal it ? Can't we return using it ?"

"That gate leads to the dungeon below the imperial palace. We might get to Atsolaes that way, but we won't be alive for long. As for why seal it, if we don't, they will always be able to send more soldiers."

Cassius raised another question. "How can we seal the gate ? I don't believe we had figured that out 10000 years ago. And also, if we seal the gate, how are we going to return to Atsolaes ?"

Asura raised his arm and a crack appeared infront of him. "We haven't figured it out. But I found out a way that should be able to do it.

First, do you agree that this crack is just a much smaller and less powerful gate ?"

Cassius nodded. "Indeed."

He then said "Negation" then the crack started to turn slowly close. "So then, the gate doesn't directly connect Atsolaes and Earth, but instead does it through another space that touches both of them, right ?"

Cassius nodded, but he was more surprised by the crack closing slowly, not because the user reversed it, but because another magic was used on it. "It's surprising you can use negation even at such a young age, but it only worked on that crack because it was made by your draconic energy and not mana. It won't work for a gate, which is made by mana more powerful that of a level 15 mage."

"I'm not saying it will. It would've been easier with a large amount of Urz, since it would've easily negated the gate----"

Cassius nodded. They had long ago thought of this, but lack of Urz made it impossible, since all Urz would've gone to waste, in case of failure.

"---But this is a new kind of magic I created using negation as a reference. Negation erases any magic not created by mana, but it is useless against mana. So,----"

He took out a small piece of purple metal out of his pocket and then made another crack, this time using mana.

"We only use circle magic for transportation and sealing now because it takes a long time to execute. But, circle magic does have a fix core through which mana passes, unlike normal magic. So, if we fix the Urz at it's core, and use negation----"

As he fixed the Urz to the core and said "Negation", the crack started to close.

"It creates a magic like negation, which works even on mana. I call it 'Void magic' since it renders the magic useless. It's useful as it can neutralize the greatest magic with only about 1 cm long Urz. I haven't been able to find a way to cast it without Urz amd haven't tried it on something stronger than level 15 magic like Gate, but what do you think ?"

Only silence followed, with everyone looking at Asura in shock.