WorldSerpent:

A poll out of curiosity, may or may not affect the story. Something I've seen mentioned a few times.

The Three Dragons upon landing in the crater sat quietly to themselves, by now Veranathus had more or less caught on to the direction of the conversation. Xiaxinia was lost in thought and Varathraga had sweat beads appeared all over his forehead. Xiaxinia and Varathraga were currently in moods of their own as they thought about it, however Veranathus had no visible changes in his attitude.

****

Veranathus couldn't stand the silence anymore and voiced his opinion.

"So what if he may possess qualities of 'that'? This is Lucius we're talking about, his mind is as hard as the hardest steel. The both of you should quit acting like two cowards already, the times of those 'things' are already long at an end. We paid a dear price for their extermination, however it is indeed over"

"The two of you are acting like two scared little lambs, this boy is your nephew and he is quite smart, he will pick up any differences in affection you show to him you know."

"Especially you Xia, out of the three of us we all know he is most fond of you"

Upon hearing this Xiaxinia twitched and replied.

"I know...however...those things can never be forgiven, I will do everything in my power to make sure Lucius doesn't have to become one of them. If it doesn't work, then I'll teach him to control it. I would never treat him lesser at all Veranathus, you misunderstand he is indeed one of my greatest treasures. I was thinking of what I should do in case it does happen, I need to prepare from now in order to fully deal with it"

Veranathus nodded at Xiaxinia's heartfelt thoughts and agreed, however as the two looked at Varathraga they could see a bit of fear and even a tinge of hatred still lingering in his eyes.

"Brother, Do not be a weakling. Don't tell me you're having thoughts you shouldn't have"

Veranathus glared at his brother and gave him a serious warning with his tone.

"What are you absurd?! I love Lucius as much as the both of you and I, Varathraga never give up on my family. However I was thinking beyond that."

The two looked at him in surprise, they knew Varathraga's hatred of Chaos Flash Wyrms was greater than any other dragon.

"What do you mean?" Xiaxinia couldn't help but ask.

"Lucius' abnormal existence may have solved a problem for us. We may have finally gotten a lead on what created them thanks to Lucius. Don't you think it's strange that he was able to show qualities of a Chaos Flash Wyrm? What exactly caused it? It's definitely not his heritage as a draconian or his acquired dragon genetics, so that only leaves one thing"

Xiaxinia and Veranathus as if they had finally grasped the thought opened their eyes wide.

"Time Magic!"

"Time Magic, certainly certainly!"

Veranathus and Xiaxinia both spoke out unconsciously in unison.

"It's quite possible that those "Timekeepers" had something to do with the Rise of the Chaos Flash Wyrms"

He then added.

"Finally, I know the hands behind the "Calamity of the Heaven's Peak". How long have I waited to find out where those wretched beasts came from."

Xiaxinia then interjected.

"That's true...but to think those "Timekeepers" and Raz Seph had a connection with the Chaos Wyrms...it is indeed unsettling"

Veranathus thought for a bit, nodded and then replied.

"However we must keep this between ourselves, I wouldn't want the Queen taking this the wrong way after all..at least not until we have concrete evidence."

"Taking what the wrong way?"

A feminine powerful voice broke the three out of their chat and immediately made them break out in hives of sweat.

"U-Uh, I just remembered I had something to do" Veranathus instantly switched to his dragon-form and tried to flee.

*Grab*

However, his tail was currently in her hands.

"Don't make me read your minds" She said bluntly to the three who had sweat beads on their foreheads, her tone was severe.

The three spoke about their concerns to her and Veranathus voiced his objections.

****

*Nock* *Nock* *Nock*

"You three don't dare call my son that!!!"

Venastrasia let out a helpless sigh as she watched three lumps of blood sit on the floor.

"So you've all caught on huh? Indeed he does have some of their characteristics. My son is no Chaos Flash Wyrm though, I sensed it quite a while back."

Upon hearing her, the three were surprised at her revelation.

"My Queen you knew?" asked Varathraga with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Of course I knew, you think you three idiots would know more about my son than me, his mother?"

"However I chose to ignore it, my son is strong enough to control himself and I believe in him. What I am most concerned about is as you said, How did the "Timekeepers" have a hand to play in "Heaven's Peak Calamity" and why did they choose to show themselves now rather than 10,000 years ago."

"There's so much we don't know about them but they seem to know quite a lot about us, when the other dragon clans come together in the next three weeks we will discuss about it. However, I don't think this will be a pleasant discussion for them. There isn't a dragon alive that had not lost something in the Calamity.."

"What will they do when they hear about Lucius?" asked Veranathus worriedly.

"What will do they? What can they do? Kill him? and live where afterward? I don't care who it is, I'll rip whoever lays their hands on him to shreds. Whether it be my own kind, A Timekeeper or those petty humanoids. Lucius is my darling beautiful son that I love deeply and dearly and would hold nothing back for, even destroying a world isn't out of question"

Venastrasia stated coldly which made the three shudder at the thought, they better than anyone else knew how terrifying her temperament could be.

****

Venastrasia stared out into the sky as she skimmed through her memories, a fire burned in her eyes as she spoke to the three lumps of blood beside her.

"How did you think I could forget that day?....The blood and carnage. The bloodiest battle ever in the history of Zenheim. It made those human wars seem like petty squabbles."

"How could I forget my beautiful mother that sacrificed herself to save me? How could I forget the day all of our parents died for us while we hid like scared little children?"

"Back then we didn't know who was responsible, but now is different...now we know the hand that hid in the shade and watched the chaos"

The three dragons sat beside her quietly, a fierce look in their eyes as they themselves remembered the day even the Gods weeped.

"Thanks to my son now we know for sure who caused this.. Before the clan gathering I'll tell Lucius about the history of the Chaos Flash Wyrms, he deserves to know about it"

The three nodded at her statement and believed her to be correct, this was no joking matter and no one knows how it would affect Lucius. Better safe than sorry they thought to themselves.

****

Inside the city of Corinth, at the heart of the city, stood the Four Elements Academy high, a purple silhouette landed at it's huge marvelous and luxurious gates. It was indeed Lucius Stormblade, he retracted his armor and made his way to the gates which the guards nervously but hastily opened. Lucius quickly made his way to the headmaster's chamber.

--

An old man was currently seated glancing at some documents as he stroked his white beard in contemplation and every now and then he would narrow his eyes and let out a helpless sigh.

"Things are becoming rowdy at the front....why did those 'Invaders' suddenly become so active now all of a sudden?"

A tinge of fear could be heard in his voice as he whispered to himself.

**Knock** **Knock** **Knock**

The old man was awakened from his thoughts by the knocking outside and replied in a calm manner.

"Yes?"

"Grandpa Aurius, it is I, Lucius"

"Oh, come in Lucius"

Lucius made his way to the chair directly opposite Aurius and began to explain the recent events about his dealings with the Fire Church, him killing the old man Salran and the oppression of the Fireblood Clan. Aurius looked at him in awe as he listened and his fingers ran cold, this was the second time Lucius killed a Deity and Aurius knew of the old man Salran's strength, he couldn't believe it all however he knew Lucius was not one to lie. He still couldn't help but ask.

"Y-You killed Salran Phoenix?"

"Yeah, he was a dangerous old man though, were it not for little brother Vera I would have died"

Aurius nodded as he listened to the details of the fight, somewhere in between the black dragon stuck his head out from Lucius' head and nodded as well, Aurius looked at the dragon with a blank expression as he realized the Dragon's size had yet again increased. The aura of the black dragon was considerably much stronger than before and were it not for him being a spirit and being able to shift sizes he might have took up the entire room.

After finishing the talk about the Fireblood state of affairs, Aurius nodded and gave Lucius his word that he as the new Fuhrer would take care of them. Naturally he would do his best as the Fireblood clan was indeed related to him as his grand-daughter and daughter in law both possessed the blood of the variant clan. Upon hearing that Aleria would be the new head of the clan made his resolve even firmer as he indeed was quite fond of his grand-children.

--

As the talk came to an end Lucius' face then became serious and the atmosphere became a bit more tense which caused Aurius himself to become serious as he realized Lucius still had not finished speaking.

"There's something else I want to talk about as well Grandpa Aurius, it's about Raz Seph"

He then began relaying the events about how he attacked Raz Seph and Raz Seph's words to him about the front-lines which he had never heard about, which made Aurius gasp in surprise as he opened his mouth to speak.

"No wonder! No wonder! So that's why it became so active all of a sudden!" he stroked his beard as he finally put the pieces together.

"Lucius, You're aware that Raz Seph is currently looking for you right? That is most probably the reason why the front-lines are so chaotic now"

"Grandpa Aurius, you still haven't told me about the front-lines" Lucius urged as he did not like not knowing crucial elements.

"Ah! My apologies! Lucius, whatever I say here you must never leak to the outside understood?" Aurius looked at him seriously.

Lucius nodded and replied "Understood"

"You may have realized it by now but the outside world has more Deities than people claim to have right? Have you ever wondered why the Deities hid themselves?"

Lucius thought for a minute and could find no plausible reason as to why they would purposefully hide themselves.

"Could it be we have traitors and the heads are afraid their strength will be leaked out to Raz Seph?" He casually threw out the only thing he could think of.

"No, the reason why we hide the fact that there are more Deities is because of the front-lines, the current ruling Deities myself included are mere faces for our kingdoms"

"Lucius, Deities die almost every day in the front lines"

Upon hearing this Lucius' heart tightened and couldn't hide his bewilderment. What was a Deity? A Deity is when one breaks through to a stage which can be called unparalleled, it was the beginning of a huge gap between a mortal and an immortal, it was the biggest change one could go through and be called a dragon among men. Lucius himself personally understood the strength of a Deity.

"The Fire continent Astarte and the Ruined Continent Einzel are separated by a short body of water, Vorkin Earthstone created a bridge to connect both sides for the purpose of this war, well rather than a bridge it would be better to say he joined the both Continents, it took him almost five years to do this task and it is a well hidden secret among us humanoids, but every single 'Invader' knows about the bridge.....exactly as it was planned.

By creating a valuable site of this magnitude, naturally the 'Invaders' would be drawn to this important objective it's the same as acquiring a fortress or having an advantageous position so obviously it was an objective the 'Invaders' had to acquire by all means it would become the foothold for their invasions. This way was better than allowing the 'Invaders' themselves to embark wherever they please and create conflict and war at their leisure in many different places. It was completely out of the question for who knows where they would have attacked first? They don't differentiate between civilians or soldiers, so we came up with this strategy that could benefit us.

If we could make them concentrate on a single objective, naturally the damage surrounding the certain areas would be mitigated as the main force focused on a particular objective. If the war happened at this particular part then we can control the damage as opposed to allowing them to embark freely upon any and all other Continents. That's why we made Astarte the current base of operations and placed Four Elements Academy at the heart of the Continent in case we need back up the Academy can easily be deployed as a last resort"

"As for why we hide the fact that Deities die every day, it's simple, to protect morale. Tell me Lucius did you see how Deities are treated by people? Do you see the sense of security they get from them? What would happen if people knew Deities died everyday? Despair! They would despair and despair and the world would become chaotic if they knew their lives were hanging by a thread"

"The only people that know about this are high nobles and those who have shown promise to become a Deity naturally they all have gag orders placed on them and are not allowed to reveal any of this information to the outside. The reason why they know is because many of their families have already lost sons and daughters to the front-lines and we are not so cruel as to deprive them of the reasons as to why they died."

"From the instant someone shows promise to enter Deityhood, a fake background is forged for them, whether it be becoming a transfer student in another Continent or being married off to someone of another Continent, these lies are carefully created to cover up the fact that many young talents are hidden away but in reality they are shipped to the front-lines. This is for the sake of people who may be acquainted with them, friends and the like as the parents already know the true reason."

Lucius listened intently as Aurius spoke about this in a bitter tone, clearly he disliked using young fledglings to do battle but what could he do? It was either this or lose the war. Lucius himself understood this and couldn't help but agree, to him, what was the point of gaining power if you weren't going to use it to save not just the people of your Continent or even the world but your own family.

"However, children of this age are quite strong. Being born into an age of war has changed the people drastically, upon hearing of the dire straits they never complain or claim it to be unfair instead they boldly charge to the frontlines to meet their comrades. There are the usual few who try to refute it but those that do are still shipped off to the front-lines and are given different tasks where their lives aren't in as much danger, like messengers and surveillance teams, some even take up the job of cooks however those teams are looked down upon by the soldiers for their cowardice."

Lucius understood, in a world such as this where a few more soldiers could make a difference being a coward was a shameful thing. People are fighting and dying everyday for the sake of protecting the world, how could they hide behind the spilling blood of their comrades? Lucius held different customs to those people and naturally he looked down upon them as well. If they were weak and could not help but die in vain, he would never judge them but if one had the power to become a Deity Lucius felt as though becoming a coward was the most shameless thing one could do.

"I can understand being a messenger or being in the surveillance team, but....a Deity mopping the floor and peeling potatoes?" He couldn't help but feel a bit angered as he whispered to himself.

Aurius nodded and spoke once more.

"Indeed it is a shameful thing, but some of these children are from high noble families and have always been pampered with everything they need. However this is a blessing in disguise as well Lucius, would you want a coward who would flee at any moment watching your back? Giving them the choice to fight or not is the most we can do"

Lucius nodded, certainly he wouldn't want such a person watching his back if anything they would just become a burden.

The two continued to chat for quite a few hours as time flew by.

****

As day turned to night, Lucius had just left Aurius' chamber and left the old man in quiet contemplation. Aurius sat there quietly stroking his beard...finally he could take it no longer. He began slamming his head on the table and biting his finger and all sorts of weird behavior which indicated a bit of rage.

"He attacked Raz Seph!!!!!! What kind of insane lunatic is this child?! From killing Deities to distressing that Terrifying being! What sort of madness! I like this brat quite a lot but he is way too reckless!!"

He mumbled quite a few words and banged his head for a while before he finally eased his anger, he wasn't wrong at all, Lucius' anger may have caused some casualties but Aurius knew it wasn't his fault if anyone had a right to infuriate Raz Seph, it would indeed be Lucius. Aurius sighed and then regained his calm demeanor, he took out a crystal orb similar to the one he used when he contacted the Fuhrer and sent his mana inside it.

Instantly a blurry figure appeared and spoke with a feminine and exhausted voice.

"Aurius, what is it?"

" Levana, Well...I kind of found out why the Front-lines have been a bit more chaotic....I suggest you bolster the defenses and have the soldiers on high alert for a bit" Aurius said helplessly.

"Hmm? What caused it?' The tired voice asked curiously

"It would be better if you didn't know....somethings are better left unknown."

"Why? But you know..." the voice didn't give up and urged him in a cute manner.

Aurius let out a sigh and spoke.

"My grandson attacked Raz Seph and shamed him a bit....in a manner..."

"Attacked him?! Wait...You're grandson?......Oh you mean that draconian? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH GOOD ONE!! How did he do it?"

"I'm not sure but apparently he stabbed Raz Seph's hand and leg with a dragon tooth I think"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA, No wonder why the 'Invaders' seemed to be angry lately, certainly it was the first emotion they've ever shown, that makes sense if their master was attacked they would be angry"

"Oi!! I found out why it's been so lively lately! apparently that kid--" the once tired voice sounded full of life as it gloated and found the situation to be funny, no doubt the feminine voice was spreading the news to the people in the surrounding area as the orb lost it's power and became silent.

Aurius just shook his head and sat in his chair and sighed once more.

"It's not just Lucius that's insane...the entire front line army is insane..they would rejoice at news like this while old men like me worry. Maybe it's time to retire? Maybe it's a sign that my youthfulness has indeed all but faded, especially that "Mad Dog" Levana and her unit....No doubt when Lucius becomes a Deity he would be welcomed warmly at the front lines...there's no way he would sit still learning about the front-lines now...if he takes action now....then surely the dragons will begin to join in themselves. Even if it's Lucius the front lines is no joke, so he would surely wait until he became a Deity"