“Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!”

Laying on the shore of a lake, Miko was breathing heavily with a paled face.

“T-That woman is trying to kill me!”

*Boom!*

“Hah!”

He was suddenly blown away by a gigantic fist that struck the ground.

“Tired already?”

He looked in front of him and saw an iron giant standing in the lake.

On the giant’s shoulder, Momo was looking down on him.

“Come on. You still have 12 more rounds.”

“Screw off! You're trying to kill me!”

He pointed at the mile long sword the giant was holding.

“Who the hell can cross blades with that thing?!”

“Quit whining. If you're able to beat this thing you'll be able to fight against [S Class].”

“And if I don't, I'll be get cut in two!”

“Hey, what choice do we have? Our intel told us that both Dario and Marco are now [S Class], while you just reached [A Class]. This is different from when you were able to fight [B Class] fighters when you were a [C Class]. The boundary between [S Class] and [A Class] is incredibly large. If you want to beat those two, you'll have to increase your strength through desperate measures. Jumping a whole [Class] in six months is impossible, but increasing your martial abilities isn't.”

Momo waved her hand and the iron giant lifted the sword in the air.

“So quit whining and get stronger!”

*Boom!*

The sword slashed down and split the ground.

Miko had to fly away to dodge it.

“That's easier said than done!”

“Where's that dominance you showed when fighting in the war? Was that a fluke?”

Miko's eyes twitched with anger when he heard that.

He activated both Ruler’s Qi and Demonic Qi together.

He pointed his sword at the iron giant.

“Bring it own you oversized lamp post!”

Two hours later.

There was a huge trench near the lake.

Momo stood on the side and looked down.

“Oi! Are you alive?!”

She was speaking to Gamiko, who was covered in blood while in his dragon form.

“……”

He didn't respond to her, and just stared at the iron giant behind her.

There was a huge cut in its shoulder, along with a few scratches. But none these hindered the giant in any way.

“….Well, I guess it's a start.”

Miko said as he got up.

The reason why he was in such a huge trench was because he was unable to block the full powered blow of the giant’s sword and crashed into the ground.

But before he was defeated, Miko was able to leave a deep cut in the giant that stretched for several meters. That's why he didn't consider it a bad start.

“Just six months left.”

He said as he stretched his body.

“Hmm….I just finished the first of the five stages of my ultimate technique, but it looks like the second stage is going to take a little longer than I expected. Maybe another year.”

“Are you talking about that technique you came up with? That's a really evil technique, if it's finished it'll put most Devil Arts to shame.”

Momo said.

Other than Tiamat, Momo is the only person who knows about the technique Miko is developing.

He consulted her about it because he wanted the opinion of a magic genius.

The reason he didn't consult Nero was because he didn't want him to know about it until its complete.

“The first stage is complete, but I won't use it in the throne wars.”

“Why? You might win if you use it.”

“The throne wars will have countless people watching it, I don’t want this technique to be exposed yet. I'll only use it when I finish the second stage. That way even if people finds out about it, I'll still have the second stage to fall back on.”

Miko had a clear idea as to what kind of technique he was creating. This technique was something the world have never seen before.

Just the first couple stages were enough to change the tides of a battle.

In fact, if Miko were to fight Marco now while using the completed first stage, he'll win 8/10 times.

That shouldn't be the case considering the difference in power between them. But because every stage defies common sense to a large degree, it made it possible.

Such a technique must never fall in the hands of others. So until he can make the technique only can be used by him alone, he won't use it.

“If that's the case, you'll have to get stronger the old fashion way.”

Momo snapped her fingers and the giant lifted its sword overhead.

“Through broken bones.”

*Boom!*

Later that day, Miko dragged his tired body to the palace with Momo.

He lost count of the amount of times he nearly died in training.

“Hey, aren't there any pills or drugs I can take to increase my strength faster?”

Miko casually asked.

“There are drugs and sacred fruits that can improve your magic and Qi, but we don't use them in the Dragna clan.”

“Why?”

“We don't need them. Our talent are already heaven defying. But if we take things like pills and end up relying on them every time we reach a bottleneck, our talent would go to waste, and we'll never achieve true strength.”

She said.

“Those who rely on things like pills to get stronger have a weak foundation. While their [Classes] will rise rapidly, they won't have half the strength of someone who struggle to reach higher [Classes]. It wouldn't be strange if they lose to someone in a lower class. Because of that, we rely on our own efforts to get stronger. That way when we meet those drug addicts that lives on magic pills, we’ll be able to bitch slap them left right and center.”

Inside true powerhouse clans and kingdoms, you won't find a single elite taking magic pills unless they reach the utmost limit of their talent.

Because of this, doping pills are scarce in the Primus branch. There might not be a single one in the whole Primus World.

“I see. Well, I wasn't really planning on talking any drugs anyway. The impurities left behind aren't worth it.”

The two arrived at the palace after walking for a while.

As Miko was about to separate from Momo and go get some rest, a faceless servant appeared in front of them.

“My lady. Young Master. The lord wants to you.”

Miko frowned.

“What for?”

The servant shook their head.

Miko sighed.

“I shouldn't have asked.”

He signal the servant to leave with a wave of his hand.

“What are you going to do?”

Momo asked.

“The old man came back when he's supposed to be training Luka, so it's either very important or very stupid.”

“Well with Gramps, at least it won't be boring.”

Momo said while laughing.

The two of them entered the palace and started walking together.

“Yo, Miko and Momo.”

That's when Aeon appeared out of nowhere.

“Aeon. Weren't you suppose to be training Ace?”

Miko asked.

“Ah, I left him surrounded by a pack of mountain sized wolves, he'll be too busy to notice I'm gone.”

Aeon casually said.

“Oh, but don't worry. I left a copy of myself there in case he dies without a heart to restart.”

“…..I see.”

The three of them walked together while chatting.

“So how's Ace coming along?”

Miko asked.

“His desire to punch me in the face is serving as his motivation. He's growth is pretty terrifying at this point. I might need to start training seriously again, or I really might get punched in the face.”

Aeon said while laughing.

“What about you guys?”

“I died three times in the last hour.”

Said Miko.

“Now that's not true.”

Momo said frown.

“You only came very close to dying two times in the last hour. The other one I got there in time.”

“Hahaha! As strict as ever Momo.”

Aeon laughed.

“Well, that was the main difference between you and your twin brother, Vanz.”

“……”

Momo didn't say anything and continued walking.

It didn't take long for them to reach the throne room.

They pushed opened the door and entered.

*Bam!*

The moment they entered Miko felt like he was hit by a train and fell to the ground.

When he looked what had hit him, he saw a beautiful woman with azure and purple hair wearing a choker.

“Ravel?!”

“Hey, Miko! I finally got to see you again! The sweets the other day were delicious!”

Ravel said with an excited tone.

“Miko, who is this?”

Momo asked with a confused expression.

She had a reason to be confused.

Momo has never met Ravel before, but she obviously knew Miko. If it was that alone then it wouldn't be worth mentioning, but Ravel was obviously a direct descendent of Tiamat and Augustus. Unless she was from a different branch, Momo should've been familiar with her.

“Ravel, come here.”

Before Miko could respond to Momo, Nero's voice reached their ears.

“Okay.”

Ravel quickly got off Miko and appeared beside Nero who was sitting on the ground instead of his throne.

Ravel rested her head in Nero's lap where he gently petted her head.

Miko sprung to his feet and looked around.

He saw that there were actually a good amount of people here.

Besides Nero, there were Nova, Kimiko, Raven, Sherry, and even Gallu.

Excluding Sasha, and the twins, every family member who was present in the Primus World was gathered here.

Neo who was technically a prisoner wasn't included.

“Hm?”

It was then Miko's eyes landed on three unfamiliar faces.

No, he met one of them before.

It was the boy he past in the hall, when he was going to meet Nero about the throne wars.

Behind him were a man and a young girl.

(Oh. So they were also freed.)

Tiamat said in his head.

He could feel a surge of happiness coming from her.

This made Miko even more curious about the identities of those three persons.

“Well, since everyone's here let's get down to business.”

Nero said as he got up leaving the frowning Ravel on the ground.

“I'm sure for most of you, these four people are new faces. I called you here to formally introduce them.”

He pointed at Ravel.

“This is my younger sister Ravel Dragna. Because of certain issues with her powers, she was imprisoned from she was six for several millennia. But don't worry, she won't lose control that easily as long as I'm around.”

Hearing Nero introduce her, Ravel shyly greeted everyone before tactfully hiding behind him.

“Sister?”

Nova, Kimiko, Aeon, and Momo were shocked to hear who Ravel was.

Because it was delicate issue for him, Nero never spoke about Ravel to any of them.

As for Sherry and Miko, they met Ravel by accident when she left her room without permission and got lost.

Nero could sense that Kimiko was glaring at him, but he played it off with a smile.

He then turned to the man.

“This is my older brother, Falcon. He was imprisoned for similar reasons as Ravel but at the same time different. He's been imprisoned and frozen for 10,000 years. I recently freed him.”

‘Frozen?’

Miko thought as he stared at falcon.

Just like Nero and Ravel his hair was also azure and purple, but it was cut short. He was naturally handsome, but had a stern look.

If Nero had a mischievous aura and Ravel had an innocent aura, Falcon had the overbearing aura of an overlord.

It's obvious that he killed his fair share of people before being frozen. But what was odd was his black eyes. He and Ravel had different eye colors from the rest of the Dragna clan.

Nero then turned to the boy and the girl at Falcon’s side.

“These are his children. The boy is called Verde. The girl is called Chika. They might look like they're in their early teens, but that's because that was their ages when they were frozen. Their actually ages are over 10, 000.”

“Wha?!”

Everyone was shocked to hear that.

‘Those kids are 10,000 years old?! Just what did Falcon do to have him and his children frozen for so long?!’

Miko thought.

(He hunted down and killed members of the other branches.)

Tiamat said.

‘Why would he do that?’

(He blamed them for what happened to his mother.)

‘His mother?’

(Don't ask. I can't tell you what happened to their mother, but I can tell you it's the reason why Nero cherishes all the women in his family so dearly, and is scared to lose them.)

‘…….’

Miko didn't say anything when he heard that.

He silently stared at the boy and the girl.

The boy, Verde, he already met once already.

He was quite handsome, but his aloof aura was the opposite of his father's.

The girl, Chika, looked very mischievous. Even in a situation like this she was smiling like she was having a grand time.

She was rather beautiful. Looked a bit like Momo, but had purple hair. She looked a year or so older than Miko. Just like Verde, her [Class] was hidden.

As if she sensed Miko's eyes on her, she looked at him and waved.

Miko awkwardly waved back, which made her laugh.

Nero-

“Now that I introduced them, I hope you all can get along.”

As he said that, Kimiko's voice echoed in his head.

(You told me your siblings were dead.)

‘Considering the situation they were in, it was better if I had considered them dead. I'm sorry for not telling you, but when we first met I never thought that I would be able to free them. So I told you that they died in battle. As time passed I forgot to mention it. Forgive me.’

(…..Since I didn't sense any lies in your words, I'll let it go.)

‘Oh, what a good wife! I'm so lucky!’

Nero then smiled.

‘So does seeing Verde and Chika, make you want to have more kids?’

*Boom!*

Nero was suddenly hit with by a block of ice and fell to the ground.

He quickly got up and acted like nothing happened.

“Ahem.”

He coughed awkwardly, but didn't wipe away the blood that was flowing down his face.

“I forgot to mention that Falcon and Ravel are the new Second and Fifth Elders respectively.”

Before the war Raven was the First Elder, Krow was Second, Kroc was the third, and Nova was the Fourth. All the others elders died in the war.

Falcon and Ravel are the first new elders to be appointed.

“Well then, if there's nothing else I'll be leaving now.”

Nero then quickly left the room with is head still bleeding. Before he left he mumbled “You can't blame a guy for trying.”