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"A-Are you out of your fucking mind!? It's not something that can be handed over!"
She reacted immediately to that strange declaration.
"It's the most valuable thing to your household, right? Your brother almost took away my most valuable thing as well. My citizens and crystals."
"Ugh…"
That's just a joke, of course. Even if he did take it, he can't use it. It would be no different from some artifact sword you can find in any relic tomb.
What gives this sword its value is the Fire Ki it can produce, something that's only compatible with the Ayried House's red aura.
"Why are you so unreasonable…?" trembling with her head down, Stella said bitterly.
"I'm just trying to figure out how much you really care about your family. The sword is just an object. You can find others like it throughout this world. Even if family is something you can always replace as well, the loved ones won't always be the same people so it has greater value." He went 'tsk, tsk', "But it would seem you don't love your brother that much if you won't do this trade."
"Is it so hard to believe that I love my family…? That sword is a pillar in our household!"
"So, you love your brothers, huh?"
"…Yes. They're still my blood…"
"Even Hans who used to beat you black and blue during your training as children because he was jealous that you awakened aura before him?"
"…"
"Or Tyran who used to assault you? The same guy who used to touch you inappropriately at parties?"
Sometimes even in bed—but he didn't say something he should have no knowledge of.
"…"
"How are you still willing to let those guys live? Your family has never loved you. Sure, Drakan permits you to continue living in the main house despite you being a bastard of some maid he slept with but when your father is gone, who will protect you? He's the only shield preventing either of your brothers from killing you."
"That's not… true… I know they love me too!"
"Hahaha! Yeah, Tyran sure loves you a lot! I'm kinda surprised he hasn't stuck it inside yet, the incestuous bastard."
"S-Shut up!" she flew up and swung her fist at him. "Ack!?"
But he flicked her forehead before she could.
"Wake up, Stella. They don't see you as anything other than a nuisance in their path. Your sisters and younger brothers might be safe since they're young but you're already an adult about to enter the fifth year at the academy. You can build connections and become stronger enough to challenge them."
"…" holding her forehead with tears, she glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Being a kind person doesn't suit you. In fact, it's detrimental to your goal."
"S-Shut up…"
"You want to grow stronger to continue the legacy of the Ayried House with your family. But Hans and Tyran? They want to eliminate the competition—you."
"…" her head lowered once again.
"Want my advice?"
"I don't—"
"Kill as many living beings as you can. More living beings than any of your ancestors have ever killed. Humans will be preferable since that spirit likes their souls more but monsters will also do."
"W-What are you even saying?"
"Haah, I'm giving you the solution to being considered as successor by Fire Lily and you're still looking at me like that." he flicked her forehead again.
"Ack! Stop that!"
"I might take Fire Lily for real and turn it into my trophy. Will you be able to stop me? My pitiful rival."
"Grrrr….!"
Taking a last sip of the drink, he walked out, "Thanks for the drink."
**
"Arnold…" Olivia looked up at him with an unamused expression, probably ready to give him an earful.
"I need to head back. Lauran's waiting for me at the library." He glanced at Elizabeth and Wistorina, "Elizabeth, protect her, alright?"
"Mm." she gave a thumbs up, head still buried in the book.
'Haha, so studious.'
"U-Uhm, I need to head back to the dorm too!" Luke jumped up.
"Sir Luke, you don't live at the dorm—"
"See ya at home, Olivia!" he dragged Arnold away.
**
"There's something I wanted to show you!"
As the two walked back to the academy, Luke stopped in the street and got into a stance.
A fighting stance.
His smile was so wide, it almost reached his eyes and he jumped back and forth full of energy.
"Oho?" Arnold took his hands out of his pockets, "Did you learn a new skill?"
"Yup! I have a little surprise for you as well! I'm not the same person I was when we fought last year!"
"You sound energetic. Fine, bring it. Uh, wait, you still need the sword to draw out your aura, right—" before he could finish, he saw a golden flash head straight for his face.
Inside that mass of golden energy was a balled-up fist. It was a small hand, with hardly any calluses but the power behind them was unmistakable.
"—Aura cloaking, huh? It's the first skill aura users learn." Arnold caught his fist, sending a small shockwave down the street. A few passersby were almost knocked down by the wind.
"W-What the hell was that?" one remarked.
"Oh, some kids from the academy sparring in the streets again."
"Ugh, damn brats! They're lucky this place isn't that crowded otherwise there would be guards here to stop them."
"W-Wha!? I know you're strong but my punches can now break concrete! Uwaah!?" Arnold held Luke up by his fist, lifting his feet off the ground. He kicked wildly and tried to free his hand with the other one.
"You've gotten faster. If I had my guard down and responded too slowly, you could've landed that hit. But I hope you didn't forget to train your muscles." He lifted Luke's jersey and shirt, expecting a six pack but was met with a flat belly with hardly any abs.
No, there was an outline but his belly was still somewhat soft. It seems like Luke doesn't have the right body to gain too much muscle through just a year of physical training. When Arnold was his age, he had a hardened core just 6 months after his training began.
That said, Arnold's training was more brutal, whereas Luke is training with a kinder Sebastian. Lucky bastard. Old age softened that old man.
He abused (trained) a 10-year-old Arnold so brutally all the way until he was 16.
"W-W-W-What are you doing!? Pervert!" face red, Luke screamed.
"What's with that dramatic reaction—" before he could finish, another flash of golden light came from below.
'A kick!? He can even coat his legs in his aura now?'
Like his fists, Luke's leg was covered in golden energy. The Hero seems to be slowly getting better at aura control. One of these days he'll be able to release all his aura without Flora's sword.
Arnold jumped back just as Luke's aura-covered leg sliced through the air where he'd been standing moments earlier.
Face burning bright red, Luke pointed at him accusingly.
"I-I'll end your tyranny, Incubus Demon!"
"…Excuse me?"
"You lure innocent academy students with your handsome face and suspicious kindness!"
A vein popped on Arnold's temple.
'What kind of cheesy situation is this!?' He pounced instead of waiting for the little Hero.
Surprised, Luke covered his face with his arms then coated them in his aura again.
"Aura is useless—" his guard was broken easily with a single punch, "—if you have no projectiles or martial arts to use it with."
"Ugh!" arms thrown back, Luke fell down backward but used the momentum with land with his hands and deliver another kick.
It zoomed past Arnold's neck. He grabbed him by the leg and slammed him down. But instead of the sound of being smashed, Luke absorbed the impact with his hands and twisted his body, to make Arnold lose the grip on his leg.
He then went for an uppercut which was easily avoided. As if expecting that, he twisted his body again in a 360 and kicked. Instead of dodging, Arnold blocked the leg with his arm.
'His hits are heavier than I expected. But that comes at a price, it seems…'
Judging by the exhaustion on his face, Luke was giving it his all whereas Arnold was still in base form, barely tensing his muscles.
'His stats rose by 300% just from aura cloaking. How much more would his stats skyrocket if he released all his aura?'
Despite the exhaustion and futility of trying so hard, there was a smile on his face. It's like he was happy to spar with Arnold.
"H-How was it?"
"The way you utilize the aura is impressive but all you did was throw punches and kick. Didn't Sebastian teach you other hand-to-hand techniques?"
"He did but… I can't do most of them since they require Aura Release. For example," he pulled back his arms at his waist and punched forward, "when I do this, it's supposed to release aura from my body. It's more lethal than a blast from what I hear. But I can't do stuff like that yet…"
"If Sebastian heard you're saying that, he would smack you." He chuckled.
"Huh? Why?"
"Limiting the array of your techniques just because of your own body's limitations will come to bite you in the future. Even if you can't release more aura through what you demonstrated, practicing without it will help your muscle memory so that you're not limited to standing still just to use that technique." Arnold vanished in a blink of an eye.
"!" appearing in front of the hero, he quickly pulled back his arm then threw it past Luke's neck, making a powerful gust of wind travel down the street, making even more people fall down and complain.
The demonstration wasn't about the power behind it so he held back a lot of Aether to use the technique.
"W-Woah… I thought you can only do that if you stand grounded with both feet…"
"Your body will overcome limitations if you just gain more experience in live combat. From now on, don't hesitate to use it."
"I-I want to try it out now but I'm exhausted from using so much Aura…" he sat on the sidewalk with a heavy sigh, "You're amazing, Big Brother…"
"I know that. I'm the elder apprentice, after all."
"Hehe. Uhm, by the way, there's something I'd like to ask."
"Ask away."
"Why were you being so harsh on Stella Ayried?"
"It's because I'm getting sick of watching talent go to waste."
"Huh!? Then am I not talented then!?" as if he heard the most offensive thing ever, Luke yelled in response.
"What? No, you just have it easier."
You were blessed, after all. Did this kid think Arnold doesn't care about him that much?
What a needy little Hero.
"O-Oh. What makes Ms. Stella different from me? She's from a ducal household as well. Though in her case, she's been privileged from the start while I only began training seriously a year ago."
"That's where your similarities end. Stella's power and talent is ancestral, whereas yours comes from the divine realm."
"Ancestral…? What does that mean?"
"The origins of her true power come from thousands of years ago, during the age of the major sects. That's how long the Ayried House has been around. What united their household was a sect leader of the collapsed Heavenly Demon Faction. She was the embodiment of destruction and feasted on the souls of the victims she killed."
If Arnold had red aura, he would've been able to use Fire Lily to naturally recover his internal energy simply by killing. Why? Well, his new martial arts can absorb life energy using the blood of his victims.
This might sound like a cheat skill but it's not as effective as you would think. It's like drinking water through a thick piece of cloth or standing in the rain with your mouth open and facing the sky.
There simply isn't enough to make a difference.
But sucking out the entire soul is bound to contain all the life energy within someone. Therefore, he would've been able to recover a large percentage of internal energy simply by killing.
Blood only carries a certain amount. If anything, the martial skill will help him recover some HP when he doesn't have potions on hand.
"Didn't the Heavenly Demon Faction help the Demon King invade the world? That means Stella's ancestor was a traitor…"
"Well, those were different times. Lots of powerful individuals were running around so how could the Heavenly Demon consume life energy in peace with your predecessor rumored to appear?"
That being said, Promethius never appeared until about 300 years ago so that worry was all for naught.
"On top of that, the Valkyries and other demigods still roamed our world so she couldn't get away with mercilessly killing people without help. That's how their alliance started."
The lore for Fire Lily is interesting but since many players don't care enough to explore Stella's questline since she's so unlikeable (for being a douchebag that swears all the time), it's not as well-known as other heroines' backgrounds. Consequently, since they didn't know the story, they never could've prepared to face a powerful evil spirit that wiped out the entire empire.
"The fact that I can't get that kind of power frustrates me a little bit. Why do aura types have to matter for a sword? Damn spirit…"
"But won't it be bad if the spirit is released?"
"So long as it's satiated, it won't go berserk."
'I might have to fight it as well if it does rampage from being frustrated with how it had to wait this long.'
He has Selia and her subordinates as well as Guinevere by his side as allies so it won't be that difficult to subdue it. This might even keep it in check if it knows there are people on its level in this world.
He could probably ask the spirit for a way to recover his internal energy without cultivation pills. Since it's from the "Age of Cultivation", it should be able to help him.
At the moment, he's relying on Alchemist Genius Lian to come up with something.
"Did you tell her all of this?"
"I wasn't as direct as I am with you now but she should've heard this from her father."
The head of the household has to convene with his heirs, after all. They can't be kept in the dark for too long. It's possible Drakan might even know how to awaken its power but will only attempt to do so if it's absolutely necessary.
"He's a powerful martial artist on his own and things are relatively peaceful so what need is there for that power?"
"Ah, you're right… Still, if giving it souls, shouldn't it be easy for anyone in the family to use its power?"
"There's a different layer to the requirement. Where do you think all that power is going to be stored while the spirit digests it? It can't go into the sword itself."
"Ah! So, the person wielding it is a vessel?"
"That's right. The spirit knows the moment the right person touches the sword."
No one in her family is a Transcendant with bottomless potential, except for her. This makes her the ideal candidate.
But she still has to prove herself.
Can Stella, the badmouthed yet kind daughter of the Ayried House, really bring herself to kill? The quality of the souls matters a lot as well.
"Humans are its preferred food, which is why that Heavenly Demon liked to commit genocides. Monsters are fine for the most part but it would take many monster lords to make it happy. At the level she is now, she wouldn't be a match for even a Goblin Lord, considered one of the weakest."
"I'm starting to think that sword is the Sin of Gluttony."
'Well, that's not entirely wrong even if the seven sins aren't exactly a thing in the game.'
"Phew, that was a nice little break. Can we spar again—Hm?" Luke glanced behind Arnold before he could ready himself to attack again, "Oh, Ms. Stella! We were just talking about you."
Arnold glanced back.
She was standing there with widened eyes, "…Is what you just said… true?"
"You don't have it in you so what does it matt—" she walked up to him and looked him right in the eye.
"…This is my only purpose. I've never wanted anything more than to uphold my ancestors' legacies!" she proudly declared, cutting him off, "I need to know if this will allow me to gain Fire Lily's acknowledgment!"
"…At any cost?"
"Yes!" the fire in her eyes had gained a more radiant glow.
As a child, Fire Lily was said to be her purpose as an Ayried. This same line was repeated to her at every family gathering. The sword was their pillar and what united them.
With it, they can ascend to the demigod realm of strength if they are accepted by the spirit inside it.
"The way to get its acknowledgment is easy but the burden is heavy." He said, knowing exactly what kind of person she is deep down.
Unlike Flora, who keeps her soft side buried so that she can do what's necessary to save people, Stella always hesitates. She might hide her kind personality under her short temper and violent outbursts but she would never kill. It's up to the player to help her overcome this.
There are many different ways to do so. Given the kind of person Luke is, he helped her every step of the way. If the spirit went berserk, he was there to stop it.
But things were different now, of course. Luke and Stella are nothing to each other in this world.
If it was him from the game, he would say 'I'll help you, Ms. Stella!' but the current Luke seemed uninterested in her life. He probably finds the spirit itself more interesting which could be why he asked about it earlier.
"All I have to do is train harder and reach a level where I can kill a Goblin Lord, right?" with a proud smirk, she puffed out her chest, "My level is currently 25 so I'm close to the average level required to take it on in a party."
Arnold winched at the low level. He's almost lost his common sense of the world after becoming so strong. To society, she would be a genius and at least a high-tier 4-star powerhouse at most.
"Uhm, speaking of training… I was wondering if…" she suddenly became shy. What is this? Why does he feel strange seeing this woman blush as if she's an innocent maiden who was locked away in a tower all her young adult life.
"…If maybe we could train together…"
"Hah? I can't hear you." He leaned exaggeratedly and put a hand behind his ear.
"T-Train… with me…"
Seeing him with a clueless expression, her face reddened even further, "TRAIN WITH ME! PLEASE!"
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Rivals can only bring out the best in each other when they fight multiple times. Hm, that's a good suggestion—"
She bit her lip while glaring at him.
'Good job holding your anger back, Ms. Stella.'
"But no."
"W-What? You! Do you enjoy teasing people!?"
"I might've had a great master who taught me all kinds of techniques but that doesn't mean I learned how to teach from him as well."
"O-Oh, that's what you meant…"
"I won't be able to teach you much if we spar. Maybe I can point out the flaws in your techniques but that's it."
"Uh…" Luke poked his arm and spoke up, "Ms. Stella could ask Ms. Flora for help. Aren't their fighting styles very similar?"
'Fighting like mindless ogres with brute strength?' he almost said that out loud.
"Is this Flora your master? Is she a famous knight?" she picked up on what he said and asked.
"Haha, not really. She's strong but doesn't really care about glory or prestige. She doesn't even care about hygiene most of the time, hahaha!"
'Are you advertising your master or making fun of her?'
"…" Stella looked unconvinced that Flora could help her, "I appreciate the offer but I'll have to meet her first…"
"No problem! Ah, I'm Luke, by the way." He glanced at Arnold for a second, "…Heir of the Berkley Family."
"I know. You're the next Hero, after all so everyone is talking about you."
"I guess you're right, hehe. Don't worry! In the next few months, you'll be a different person compared to now!"
"Hah, if the Hero says so, then it must be true."
'Good. With this, I'll leave everything to Luke. He can just woo her while they train together with Flora then another member is added to the Hero Party!'
Satisfied as if he did something, he nodded.
'Become my meat shield once I've defeated Oriel and try to recover my strength, Stella!'
Arnold was about to slip away to let the two have their moment.
"Hey." Just as he was about to tiptoe away, Stella called out to him, "I'm tired of looking at your back all the time."
"?"
She walked up to him.
"Before, I lost all hope that I would be able to surpass you but if that sword really has a spirit that can make me stronger… then I'll tame it. I'll make it mine." She pointed at his face and declared, "So, just you wait! One day I won't be behind you, covered in your shadow but by your side as your equal!"
There was a bright smile on her face, as if she finally let out what she wanted to say. Her red hair danced in the wind when she walked to his side, about to leave, "…Tyran is an adult so what he did is his sole responsibility. I just apologize on his behalf for how he acted and hope you can give him the lightest punishment possible."
That was all she said before walking away. It didn't sound like she abandoned her brother, but she must've recalled everything Arnold reminded her about. That guy will probably never even thank her.
There was a confidence in her gait and posture as she walked, as if she relieved a burden or was confident about her future. That was the back of a woman who knew what to do to get stronger.
Arnold, on the other hand, stared at her back blankly.
'What did she just say…?'
Not behind you in your shadow, but as equals… by your side.
That wasn't any ordinary line of dialogue you wouldn't really focus on if you read it.
She said this same thing to Luke when he helps her tame the spirit and become Duchess Ayried.
It was…
'…The beginning of Stella's romantic route with Luke.'
The good kind of Flag—a Romance Flag.
"It looks like I'll be seeing Stella a lot from now on, huh…" he said and scratched his head.