Olivia had noticed Luke's sour mood; she knew he didn't want to be disturbed, so she searched for Kyle to ask for answers. She scoured the residence, but Kyle was nowhere to be found. After checking his room, she spotted a piece of paper lying between the threshold of her door and the floor. The moment she saw the paper, she knew Kyle had departed. She didn't even bother to read the contents.
Luke, meanwhile, wandered through the Lucas residence. By now, Ingis had reverted into his chick form, resting in his habitual spot on Luke's shoulder. He arrived at the Hall of the Patriarch through the rear entrance, walking past the portraits of the predecessors—from Zayne and Ronald, all the way down to the First Hero and Patriarch.
"August Lucas," Luke read aloud, his fingers tracing the cold, etched engravings on the portrait. He paused, the weight of history pressing down on the silent hall. "Ingis," he murmured, his voice echoing in the gloom, "have I ever told you about him?"
Luke tried to lighten the atmosphere of the room when he noticed his sour mood started affecting Ingis. Ingis nodded negatively in response.
"Well then let's get to it." Luke spared Ingis a glance. "August Lucas was the first ever recorded hero; no one knows where the power came from or how he got it. All that was recorded was how he resolved the demon war, five hundred years ago. The demon king Zuraak had waged war with the humans; unlike any other of his predecessors, he was abnormally strong. Rumors say he obtained that power from deep within the catacombs. He had assembled seven demon generals, giving them the title 'The Seven Deadly Sins.' Zuraak and his generals attacked several human settlements; before the humans knew what was happening, the demons had overrun the entire realm.
Just when all hope was lost, August Lucas had descended like a calamity.
Just when all hope was lost, August Lucas descended like a calamity. He took it upon himself to enthrall both demons and beasts, waging a war single-handedly against the demon ranks. After several months, August finally pushed the demons back to the demon realm when Zuraak fell. He returned, erecting barriers along the coast of the mortal realm; the same barrier Cerci reconstructed after the last war was where August's own once stood.
Ingis pecked at Luke's nails when he stopped. Luke shifted his attention to meet Ingis's gaze. He patted Ingis's head, "What's that? You want to know what happened to him?"
Ingis nodded.
"The history books didn't say it," Luke murmured, his voice heavy with the gravity of the silent hall. "All that was written was that he passed on his power to his first son of his third wife, and disappeared afterwards."
He turned away from the portrait, the cold eyes of his ancestor seeming to track his movement.
"But let's not dwell on August; we still have other patriarchs to talk about..."
Luke recounted the tales of his predecessors, his voice monotone, eventually ending with his father's grueling quest to the Demon Realm. Throughout the narration, Ingis had been acting agitated, her talons clicking incessantly against his shoulder; sensing this, Luke decided to let her stretch her wings. Once outside the main house, she reverted to her original form, a blur of motion as she took flight toward the west.
Alone in the hall, Luke's thoughts drifted back to Zuraak. He still didn't believe that the power found in the catacombs had truly vanished. He suspected that Albatron possessed it—which would explain why he was so suspiciously strong.
Luke began to walk back, taking a final, measured look at all the patriarchs: Zayne, Ronald, Lugan, and finally, August.
August had golden hair and azure eyes that looked detached and cold. He wore an expression of indifference—if that was even the right word to describe him. In the stillness of the hall, the painted gaze felt less like a relic of the past and more like a silent, chilling judgment.
If Luke's hypothesis was correct, he needed to get stronger than August if he had any hopes of defeating Albatron. How he wished he had the same luck as Zuraak.
Luke looked once more at the portrait of August. "I will surpass you," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Right after this political scandal of a marriage," he added, mumbling the last part under his breath.