Lying on the cold floor, surrounded by corpses, was the first time Lucius truly got a good look at his aspiring captain. Until now, the man's face had been as forgettable as his birthday. His long blond hair fell to his shoulders, and his carmine eyes carried the air of someone trustworthy. If not for the devious smile plastered across his lips, Lucius might still have believed it.
It was a sharp contrast to both Lucius and the small Boreas Scion beside him. The boy's icy blue eyes looked hollow—eyes of a dead man still walking, weary and wishing to be anywhere else.
Suddenly, the Boreas Scion spoke, his voice as tired as his gaze.
"I need you to confirm something for me, prince."
Lucius arched an eyebrow.
"What?"
The boy sighed.
"There are rumors you could be persuaded to join another kingdom, that you have no ties to Helios. Worse, that you committed the gravest sin a prince can. Are they true?"
Lucius thought for a long moment.
So this is why they saved me… Ugh. All I wanted was to do a little spying on the prisoner I captured, and now this brat wants to play twenty questions.
Still, he couldn't afford to lie. Not when the aspiring captain and the Boreas Scion both towered leagues above him in strength. Escape wasn't an option. His best chance was honesty.
"I don't know…" He exhaled slowly, then added, "But the 'gravest sin' part? Yeah, that one's true."
In just one night, Lucius had uncovered more about Helios than he ever wanted to. The kingdom sacrificed the outskirt residents. They had never treated him with warmth. At the academy, he had always been the "shitty prince." His mother despised him, and his father never loved him.
The aspiring captain's voice cracked into a furious roar.
"What do you mean you don't know!"
Lucius only shrugged.
"How could I know off the top of my head? I'm a stupid prince." He gave a hollow chuckle. "Yes, yes—'the shitty prince.' I could never know the answer to such a loaded question."
Another moment of silence stretched, tension thick in the air, until Lucius broke it with a lazy yawn.
"I guess… if the price were right, I'd think about it."
The aspiring captain's eyes lit up. The Boreas boy's, however, stayed as cold as ice.
It wasn't a lie. Lucius had no real ties to Helios. If Boreas wanted to recruit him, he'd at least consider the offer.
"I see." The boy's voice was calm, thoughtful. "Then hear this: I can promise you double the resources you receive now, and protection for anyone you wish in the coming war."
It was a tempting deal. Double resources meant he could cultivate faster, climbing stages quicker. And protection… that could keep his brother and Marcus safe.
But one question nagged at him. Maybe most Scions wouldn't have cared, but Lucius did.
"If you win the war… what happens to the outskirts citizens?"
Ever since he'd uncovered the truth about Helios's sacrifices, Lucius had felt a strange responsibility for those people. If this boy promised to spare them, Lucius would have joined Boreas without hesitation.
"They would be sacrificed," the Boreas boy said plainly, as if it were nothing more than the weather.
The words landed like ice in Lucius's chest. Even the captain flinched, realizing the boy had overplayed his hand.
"What?" His voice was flat, unreadable.
Then Lucius sighed.
"I see. And how exactly do you plan to win this war? From what I, and everyone else, know, Helios outnumbers you in both Scions and resources."
Slowly, the Boreas boy lifted a finger and pressed it toward Lucius's chest.
"We plan to win because of you. Right now, you're a weak prince. Our own prince could crush you without effort. And as you know, wars are often decided by a prince's strength, by whether he can hold the other prince at bay. Against you, we'd have no problem."
Lucius frowned. "Then why bother recruiting me?"
The boy only shrugged. "Bigger picture."
Lucius opened his mouth to respond, but heavy footsteps thundered from outside.
The Boreas boy's head snapped toward the sound. "Chase me to the water!" he shouted.
A heartbeat later, the front doors crashed open.
Twenty Helios Scions flooded in, crimson cloaks billowing. Their presence alone chilled the air. These weren't Stage Threes like the fodder who'd already fallen; no, every single one radiated power. Stage Fours at the bare minimum. Several Stage Fives. And leading them… one unmistakable Stage Six.
"The prince is down!" someone roared.
Twenty Scions surged forward, storming past Lucius and the aspiring captain. Not wanting to look suspicious, the captain threw himself into the fray, charging after the Boreas boy.
Lucius sighed in frustration and followed.
The chase tore through the compound, down the back halls, and out into the night. The Boreas boy sprinted ahead, each stride widening the gap between him and his pursuers. Fortune favored him: the military base sat on the edge of Helios, near the forest that bordered the outskirts. The ocean wasn't far.
Even as Stage Five Scions triggered their ability—Solar Step, igniting bursts of light beneath their feet to propel themselves forward—they failed to close the distance. The boy only grew faster, weaving through beams of sunlight and orbs of fire as though he'd been born to dance between death.
Lucius, panting at the rear, clenched his teeth.
Did I misjudge him? Even the Stage Six can't catch him… Don't tell me, he's already Stage Seven?!
The thought chilled him as much as the frosted air biting at his lungs. If true, this boy was a monster, stronger than anyone Lucius's age had a right to be.
The chase dragged on, carving a fiery, frozen scar through the forest. Trees splintered, scorched, or froze to dust as attacks ripped through the night. Heat and frost clashed in the air, twisting the atmosphere into something unnatural.
Finally, the trees broke, and the ocean stretched wide ahead.
That's when the Stage Six Helios Scion snapped. His voice thundered over the storm of footsteps:
"Everyone—stand back!"
Obedience was instant. Boots skidded into the dirt, soldiers halting in a staggered line. At the front, the Stage Six Scion thrust his hand skyward.
The night bent around him. Wind shrieked, spiraling into his palm as heat gathered, swelling hotter and hotter until the very air seemed to peel away. The ground cracked beneath his feet.
And then it appeared—
A miniature sun, writhing and unstable, hanging in his grasp. Its light was blinding, its heat suffocating, the air warping as sparks shed like falling stars.
Scorchstorm.
The Stage Six ability of the Helios pathway.
The miniature sun tore itself from the Scion's hand, rising slowly into the sky. It stopped midway between him and the Boreas boy, swelling with unstable power.
Then it ruptured.
Flames exploded outward, spiraling into a storm of fire. Waves of molten light licked across the ground, searing the soil into glass. Burning cinders rained down like meteors, scorching trees, grass, and stone alike. The wind howled with heat, whipping fire into spiraling vortexes that threatened to consume everything in sight.
The air itself trembled, suffocating in the sun's oppressive heat. Even standing far back, Lucius felt his skin sting and his lungs scream for cooler air. His heart hammered against his chest as he stared at the apocalyptic scene.
This was no ordinary spell. This was a battlefield-ending ability, an entire storm of fire brought down by a single Scion.
And the boy from Boreas stood alone before it.
But the boy didn't scream in fear. He only frowned, raising his hand. In his palm, a tiny orb of frost shimmered to life. It drifted upward, small and fragile against the blazing sun overhead.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the world split open.
A howling blizzard erupted from the ice sphere, roaring across the battlefield. Snow and frost swallowed the firestorm whole, devouring flames, shattering the miniature sun, and silencing the inferno in an instant. Steam hissed through the night as fire met ice, and ice won.
The Stage Six Helios Scion staggered back, gasping in disbelief.
The Boreas boy smirked. Then, without hesitation, he sprinted toward the cliff's edge.
"Follow him!" someone shouted.
The pack surged forward, but it was already too late. The boy leapt, his figure suspended in the moonlight for a fleeting moment.
Lucius's breath caught.
How does he plan to escape?
The answer came seconds later.
When the boy struck the water, his body shifted. His cloak tore as a fin burst through his back, scales flashing like sapphire in the moonlight. His form melded with the ocean as though he had been born from it.
Lucius's eyes went wide.
A Phorcys transformation.
His heart thundered as realization struck him cold.
He was the Boreas prince.