Chapter 31 – Departure (5)

The Star of Annihilation
Chapter 31 – Departure (5)
Written by : eleven

* * *

“Hold it.”

Lucius quickly disappeared from his spot in the corner of the arena and stopped Roy from landing any more punches.

Roy held his fist back and stood up as he was crouched over Amelia, poised to punch her right in her face.

“You brute!”

Illidia, the Baroness, ran down the steps to the center of the training grounds and spat our curses at Roy venomously.

“Stop it Baroness. Who was it that suggested this duel in the first place?”

“I don’t care! That boy is a dirty mongrel who knows no shame! I should be reporting this to the majesties at once!”

“Silence.”

Lucius released a bit of his monstrous ki and pressured Illidia.

Illidia whimpered but kept her poisonous gaze locked onto Roy as she tended to Amelia.

“Do you admit your defeat?”

Lucius asked Amelia.

Standing to her feet, Amelia shook the dust from her outfit and stared at Roy with a half-dazed expression and nodded.

“I do….”

Roy just looked at the two with mixed expressions.

One one hand he felt pity for Amelia, on the other he felt indifferent towards Illidia.

She was just another trash amongst the heap within the nobility of the Empire.

“Amelia dear, he was just a brute, you didn’t lose to him did you?”

“…. mother stop.”

Illidia’s face contorted into an ugly one.

It seemed to Lucius and Roy that Amelia was at least a little bit more honorable than her mother.

Iliidia, however, remained silent this time.

“Are we finished here?”

Roy was the one to speak this time. He was by no means in a good condition.

He was bleeding from several cuts on his body and had bruises starting to emerge. He wanted to finish this ridiculous spar already.

“Yes.”

Lucius responded, maintaining his fierce gaze on Illidia, warning her to not make any hasty actions.

“Phew.”

Roy sighed and fell on his butt.

He had a long way to go.

“Congratulations. You’ve realized the first key to becoming a third-rate swordsman.”

Lucius spoke with a bit of appreciation in his voice.

“Huh?”

Roy looked at his master with a dumbfounded expression.

He knew what a third-rate swordsman was.

It was the lowest level of proficiency with a sword, but in terms of level, he had officially entered the realm of swordsmanship.


* * *

– Regulate your breathing. The moment you lose focus, your core may not handle it.


Ifrit’s voice rang out inside Roy’s head.

At that moment, it was later in the night of the spar, and he was learning how to circulate demonic energy into his mana core.

Ifrit was a half-demon, half-spirit.

His powers of manifestation, relied on the use of demonic energy, and his new contractee, Roy, had to be able to accumulate demonic energy inside of his body to even begin using his powers.

The only problem was that humans were not able to typically use or wield demonic energy. It was like oil in a body made of water.

Their bodies were in constant conflict with the acquisition of demonic energy.


‘This is painful.’


Roy thought to himself.

The very next day, they would be heading to the Capital of the Empire, Lazarus.

However, his training had just started in earnest.

He felt an odd and squirming power from the surroundings as it was his first time trying to circulate demonic energy. The demonic energy was coming from his mark on his body that was made with Ifrit’s contract.


– Your mana typically is supposed to flow in a clockwise direction, however it isn’t. Remember, this is a very good thing for you. Don’t reject the demonic energy and allow it to flow in the direction your mana was originally supposed to flow. Mana and demonic energy may seem different, but they’re not. They need to be balanced in equilibrium.

‘That’s cool, but when are you going to start teaching me some of your spells?’


Roy responded in an irritated tone as he recalled the crazy powers that Ifrit had unleashed on Argenta.

– Quit being annoying and focus.

“Ugh.”


Roy felt a jolt of pain as Ifrit had pointed out that his mana had once again clashed with the demonic energy inside of his core.


– Keep doing this for the rest of the night. We’ll be busy tomorrow and I’ve already noticed several strong presences in the location you humans call Lazarus.

‘…?’

Roy was confused but remembered what Ifrit must have been talking about.

The Sword Saint. Trent Freeman. The strongest man in the entire world.

Roy remembered the moment he had seen Trent standing in front of one member of the Great Three in his previous life.

It was one of the most frightening moments of his life and he had only caught a glimpse at that time of the power that both Trent, and the member of the Great Three, had held.

Trent had single-handedly pushed back the member of the Great Three. Well…. Only for a bit. Roy had never seen the Dragon that Trent was facing, polymorph, and with the recent battle against Argenta, Roy knew just how dangerous a Dragon could truly be when they polymorphed into a human form.

His master, Lucius, was only the Fourth Swordmaster of the Empire, and quite honestly, couldn’t hold a candle to Trent Freeman.

Not even Tubel, the Grand Wizard of the Empire, would be able to defeat Trent, let alone pressure him.

Roy’s eyes gleamed with a dark energy.


* * *


The next morning, Roy was woken up by one of the servants of the Portaz estate.

At least the quarrel between the owner of the estate, Illidia, didn’t affect the services he received from the maids.

As he pulled the covers from his bed, Roy went to the mirror in the bathroom and washed his face.

“Huh….?”

Roy noticed something incredibly odd.

His normally green eyes were blood red.


– It’s the effects of the fairy’s tears I think.


Not even Ifrit knew why Roy’s irises had changed colors.

Amelia had noticed it the day before, but had never spoken of it. Neither had parents or mentors.


‘Why didn’t they say anything?’

– They probably figured the same. Drinking such an abundant source of mana in a raw form, is not common and is known to have many side effects.


Ifrit replied in a calm voice.

Roy felt a bit worried as he circulated his mana.

Unlike before, there was a trace of demonic energy flowing throughout his body along with his mana, and there was still this tingling feeling that his mana core had an immeasurable amount of power hiding within it.


‘I don’t like this at all. Yet, there’s no way I can find answers to this.’

– I’m not so sure about that. Grow stronger. The sooner you grow to a stronger level, the faster you’ll be able to search for these answers. Plus, when I skimmed through your memories… there’s those places, isn’t there?

‘Those places?’

– We’re going to the Capital today and yet you’ve already forgotten? You seemed to be pretty obsessed with it in your previous life.

‘You’re right!’


Roy remembered.

There were indeed ‘those’ places.

Inside the Capital, there was a place full of all kinds of magical knowledge.

Inside the Capital of the Empire, Lazarus, there were the Magic Towers. The places where all Magicians and Wizards of the Empire gathered. A series of locations filled with magical knowledge.

Though… to get into the magic towers’ libraries, one had to at least be a 3-star mage. There was one way around however.


‘Seems like going to the Imperial Academy won’t be such a waste of time after all.’


Roy thought to himself as he got his clothes on and headed outside to where the others were waiting in front of the Warp Portal.


“Are you ready Roy?”

“Yeah.”


Nate asked with a slight smirk on his face as Mathilde, Lucius, the Imperial convoys and the others were looking at him.


“Then let’s get going.”

Graduating from the Imperial Academy was a guaranteed selection into at least one Magic Tower.

In his previous life, Roy had been selected to the Red Magic Tower.

The Tower of War Mages and combat.

‘Looks like I’ll definitely be taking a new route in this life.’

Roy smiled as he walked through the Warp portal, holding his mother’s hand.


Whoosh.

Chapter 31 – Fin

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