*Boom!*

Kirika’s oasis.

Miko was in an intense sword battle with younger Kirika.

He charged forward with two blades in hand and swung both swords at the sametime.

Younger Kirika simply held up her blade and blocked it.

“Tch.”

Miko clicked his tongue and jumped back.

With a roar he activated his Dragon Rage.

He then manipulated his purple aura to take the form of multiple arms holding swords.

“8 arms war Buddha!”

He charged forward with incredibly speed.

His aura blades caught fire as he reached closer to Kirika.

“Octo-Murder!”

His eight arms then swung at Kirika from eight different directions at once.

Younger Kirika remained calm as the 8 blades slowly approached her body.

It was then it happened.

She swung her sword to the left, leaving afterimages behind it.

*Clang!*

Four of Miko’s swords shattered, including the one in his real hand.

She swung her sword to the right.

*Clang!*

Another four swords were mercilessly destroyed.

In a split second Miko lost all of his swords.

Kirika then took a step towards him while flipping her blade.

*Boom!*

She hit him with the blunt side of her blade and blew him away.

“Ugh.”

Miko groaned as his feet skid on the ground.

“Your trick isn’t bad, but I could see through it with a glance.”

The real Kirika, who was spectating, commented.

“You focus on flashy tricks too much. You should focus more on actual techniques and skills.”

She said.

“Do you know why the younger me could destroy your attack effortlessly?”

“A difference in skills.”

Miko answered.

“Oh? I’m surprised that you could admit that so easily.”

“I’m one to acknowledge when I’m lacking.”

Kirika nodded.

“That’s good. That attitude will be the key to your rapid growth.”

She sounded pleased as she spoke.

“You’re right. My skills were superior to yours, but that doesn’t mean that I’m more talented. It’s just that I love the sword more than you do.”

“Love the sword?”

Kirika nodded.

“From I was a child I’ve been in love….”

Kirika shook her head.

“No, I was straight obsessed with swords. Of course, I had the passion to learn to match. Add that with a little talent and I was soon labeled as a prodigy.”

She pointed at Miko.

“You already have the talent. That is obvious. The problem is that you don’t have the passion or drive to pursue the way of the sword.”

“…….”

Miko didn’t say anything because what Kirika said was the truth.

What he wanted wasn’t to reach the end of the way of the sword, it was to stand on top of everything and established his own existence.

“So what are you going to do?”

Kirika asked after seeing Miko’s silence.

Miko looked at her and grinned.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

He took out some new swords and charged towards the younger Kirika.

“If my passion is lacking then I just need to ignite that passion within myself!”

He swung both swords which Kirika parried to the side before thrusting towards his neck.

Miko did something that Kirika didn’t expect.

He thrust his hand forward and allowed the blade to cut through his flesh and bone before stopping it.

“If I can’t use passion to grow, then I’ll use desperation!”

He drew Kirika closer and stabbed his sword right through her heart.

“Looks like your passion lost to my desperation.”

The younger Kirika disappeared after Miko said that.

The real Kirika was speechless by what she just saw.

‘He didn’t hesitate to sacrifice his hand for a quick victory….I mean it’s against a 14 year old me who was still quite naïve, but still. I’m sure even the current me would freeze up for a second if I saw that.’

She thought and smiled.

“This boy really has limitless room for growth.”

She walked up to Miko.

“Okay, as promised I’ll begin your training for the Raging Dragon Style.”

Miko smiled when he heard that.

“Please do.”

Elsewhere, while Miko was in the middle of his training with Kirika, Luka and the others were being dragged around by Alec.

He dragged them into the Tertitus World to the city of Arak, where the Tertitus main family resided.

The city had a modern theme despite being located in the desert.

After arriving at the city, they went straight for Alec’s residence which was located in the very center.

“Welcome back, Young Lord.”

When they arrived there was a long line of sexy women wearing tight fitted suits, while holding bottles of champagne.

They welcome Alec and the others.

“Woah!”

This display made Sora and ace excited.

“This is your home?”

Sora asked.

“Of course. Despite being who I am, I’ve contributed quite a lot to the branch in the last couple decades. As such, I’ve been granted a large Residence filled with women of my liking.”

Alec answered.

“I inspired to be like this when I grow up.”

Ace said seriously.

“As all men should.”

Alec laughed and entered his residence.

“Say, are all of you like this?”

Luka asked after seeing Alec’s welcome.

Gizmo shook his head.

“Although it was mentioned that the men in the clan acted like this because of our Progenitor Augustus, strangely enough only those with Tiamat’s blood acts this way.”

He answered.

As one who didn’t have an ounce of Tiamat’s blood in his veins and only had Augustus’, he was proud to say that he was normal.

Meanwhile, Ace and Sora had at sometime approached the female servants and was drinking champagne while flirting with them.

“….I feel like those two would fit right in with the Dragna clan.”

Said Hina.

Bloom and Mayumi nodded in approval.

The group followed Alec into his mansion and straight into a room at the furthest back.

When they entered they saw countless complicated-looking machines and equipment.

“This is my lab.”

Alec said after opening the door.

“Word of advice, if you want to live don’t carelessly touch anything.”

Said Gizmo.

Kaido who was about to touch a strange machine, quickly withdrew his hand after hearing that.

“You’re late.”

They heard a voice and saw that there was someone sitting in a dark corner of the room.

They stood up and approached Alec.

It was then that their appearance became clearer.

It was Nova’s eldest son, Christian.

“I don’t have too much time before my sleeping urges take over.”

He stared at Alec and said.

“I’m sorry. Something came up.”

Alec apologized.

“Christian Dragna….Nova’s son.”

Luka muttered when she Christian.

Christian looked at her and the others.

His face was deadpan for a while, before a handsome smile appeared on his face.

This smile caught everyone off guard.

They all caught glimpse of Christian on numerous occasions, but this was the first they’ve seen him smile.

They had to admit that it was rather charming.

Christian turned his attention back to Alec and the smile disappeared.

“Let’s get this over with already.”

“No problem.”

Alec clapped his hands and a giant capsule appeared out of the ground.

“For the time being, get in.”

Said Alec.

“And this is?”

“It will scan your body and collect all the data I need on it. Your height, weight, blood type, DNA make up, magic circuit, soul strength, intelligence, brain activity, bone structure, etc. It will tell me everything I need to figure out how you’ve spent your life and how far you can grow.”

“That surpasses depriving me of my privacy.”

Said Christian.

“But for both sides to get what they want it’s necessary.”

Said Alec.

“……..”

Christian looked at the capsule for a while and then looked at Edward who was on Kaido’s shoulders.

An instant later, Edward appeared in his hands.

“?!”

This shocked everyone, but none more than Kaido who just had him.

“I’ll be borrowing him for a sec.”

Christian said as he made a white light flow into Edward.

“Ah!”

Edward woke up immediately after.

“Where am I?”

He looked around and asked.

“You’re in the Tertitus World. Sorry for interrupting your nap, but I need your ability.”

Christian turned Edward to face him and said.

When Edward saw who it was that held him, he was shocked silly.

“W-What do you want me to do for you?”

He managed to ask.

“I want you to check this machine and tell me what is its purpose.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

Alec asked with an amused tone.

“In this world, there’s no one I trust 100%. Not even my family. Look what happened to Vanz because he trusted his twin sister 100%.”

Christian answered.

“Vanz’s death wasn’t Momo’s fault though.”

Alec answered.

Christian didn’t answer and looked at Edward.

“Do it.”

“Y-Yes!”

Edward quickly placed his hand on the machine.

‘Just my luck! How did I ended being used as a tool by the clan?!’

He screamed in his head.

Christian took his eyes off Edward and looked at Alec.

Millennium Genius or not, Christian was confident that Alec couldnt manipulate Edward’s analysis without him noticing.

After a few seconds, Edward took his hand off the machine.

“A-Amazing. Whoever created this thing is a true genius…”

“Please, you’re making me blush.”

Said Alec.

“What is its purpose?”

Christian asked.

“It basically checks everything about you. Your height, weight, blood type, DNA make up, magic circuit, soul strength, intelligence, brain activity, bone structure, etc.”

“See?”

Alec said with a smile.

“Anything else?”

Edward shook his head after a while.

“I see. Thank you.”

After saying that, Alec let him go.

He then opened the capsule door.

He took one last look at Alec before entering.

“Gizmo, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Alec said with a smile.

Gizmo nodded after a while and started to operate the machine.

“Now then lets go.”

Alec turned to Bloom and the others and said.

“Where are we going?”

Jin asked.

“My grandfather and father have been wanting to meet Miko’s generals for a while. When they heard that you were here, they ordered me to bring you to them.”

Alec explained.

The group showed nervous expressions when they heard that.

“Don’t worry. We won’t do anything to you. If we did, Miko would be sure to destroy us. Sorry, but we want to live too much to risk that.”

Alec said.

“…..Okay.”

Luka said and they all followed behind him.

“…….”

Left alone, Gizmo stared at Christian in the capsule.

He entered deep sleep moments after entering the capsule.

Gizmo slowly took a metal chip out of his ear and placed it on a small section of the capsule.

As he did so, the conversation he had with Alec a few days ago popped up in his head.

“You want to reprogram Christian?”

Gizmo asked Alec in disbelief.

“Not reprogram, I just want to implant a command inside him.”

Alec answered.

“Command? What kind of command?”

“To never turn on the Dragna Clan or Miko.”

“Why would you want to go out of your way to do that? You’re not the type of guy who would care if the clan gets destroyed.”

“I have my reasons.”

Alec answered.

“But why Christian?”

“Because if there’s anyone who has the potential to destroy the clan or Miko, outside of the older generation, it’s him.”

“You mean the Celestial Body he possesses?”

Alec nodded.

“Don’t underestimate it, Gizmo. Those who possess it can easily become a walking catastrophe. It would be ideal to kill him, but that would only turn the Secundus and Primus branch against us.”

Gizmo thought about it for awhile and nodded.

“Then how are you going to do it?”

“With this.”

Alec took out a chip.

“Christian is incredibly smart, so he’ll definitely realize that I have some ulterior motive for studying his body, and will most likely use some method to check the machine we’ll use to treat him. This chip is a miniature supercomputer created by my father. It can attach itself to any machine and change it’s function.”

“So you want me to attach it to the capsule once Christian finished checking it and entered it?”

Alec nodded.

“Do that and the chip will do the rest. But don’t worry, it won’t harm him in anyway.”

“I don’t get it. Why go this far for Miko?”

“If you do this, I promise I’ll tell you.”

Alec pushed the chip closer to Gizmo.

“Well, are you going to do it, partner?”

Gizmo looked at the chip for a while before taking it.

“Fine. But you owe an explanation.”

“I promise.”

Alec said with a smile.

Present time.

Gizmo looked at Christian as the chip started to complete its task.

The longer he stared, the guiltier he felt.

“This better be worth it, Alec.”