--------///----Eclina POV----\--------

After papa came back he told mama that Raijin had passed out while he was riding and that made mama smirk for a while. After that he told Virgil something that i couldn't hear and he tensed up after papa was done, i wanted to ask what it was but papa told us that we were going to run to the kingdom and to get ready. My brother was excited while my sister looked kind of tired and asked.

(L.S) " How long is that going to take? "

(Martiq) " At most eight hours six at the least. "

Seeing how tired she was papa was about to say something else but mama stepped in and asked.

(Losine) " Do you feel like you must go to sleep little one? "

(L.S) " Yes. It feels like i can lay down and just fall asleep without even trying. "

Hearing this both mama and papa looked at each other conflicted and looked like they were having a conversation with their eyes again before mama said.

(Losine) " It seems you'll be undergoing your manifestation soon. It's a bit before mid day so you'll probably end up sleeping till the sun begins to fall... I'll stay with you and i'll be here to keep you safe as well as guide you if you need me. "

Hearing that my sister was going to manifest me and my brother were excited and a bit sad. Excited because soon she'd have a name and soon she'd get to try her first hunt. But at the same time we were sad because we wouldn't be here for her and she would be late at seeing the kingdom. "

(Martiq) " I'll be sure to run back as soon as the sun starts to drop and check in with the both of you, and if she's still asleep i'll head back and check in at another thirty minutes until she wakes up and has her elements. "

Looking to my brother papa says.

(Martiq) " Looks like you'll be manifesting soon. Might happen today might happen tomorrow but your times coming up. "

At that my brother perked up and his tail started wagging like mine does when i get headpats. Reina who overheard our conversation put a brave look on her face and looked to mama and papa saying.

(Reina) " I'll do my best to help keep her safe. You can count on me "

Seeing her look serious about helping to keep my sister safe, mama and papa give her a smile and mama even goes up to her and lowers her head to give Reina a nuzzle.

(Losine) " The sentiment is appreciated but i doubt you'll have to do anything. Its doubtful anything or anyone in this town could get through me. "

Looking a little embarassed but keeping the smile on her face Reina looked away and said.

(Reina) " I can still try atleast. "

Mama smiled again licking Reina's cheek and with a sad look on her face said.

(Losine) " It feels like you could've been a child of mine... With the rarity of our element and this unfortunate side effect it's rare to meet others like us... You may not be a child of mine but i feel as if i should protect you as if you were one... Was it your father that shares our elements or your mother? "

Looking back and seeing mama's expression Reina says.

(Reina) " Daddy is the one i get my Darkness from. "

(Losine) " Then after my little one manifests... "

Mama stopped and looked to papa and said.

(Losine) " Martiq when you meet her father if you deem him worthy enough let him know i'll be willing to teach him how to properly learn how to synchronize with his Darkness and teach both him and her. "

Hearing this Reina and Virgil both looked shocked and were staring at mama. Reina then started to look at mama in awe and wonder before she hugged mama leaving a smile on papa's face.

(Martiq) " Got it. Alright little ones i'm going to get all of you some food so you have enough energy to last for our run to the kingdom so we don't have to stop in the middle of the run. "

With that papa dashed off and jumped over the fencing and into the forest of Finna and went to get some food for our run and within minutes papa came back with what looked to be a type of boar in his mouth that was maybe a meter tall and all brown with white tusks and hooves, it looked like it would be enough for us to eat.

(Martiq) " Iy fouwnd shumthing goo... "

Before papa could finish his sentence mama smacked him on the back of the head with her paw and said.

(Losine) " Dear don't talk with your mouth full especially infront of the little ones. "

(Martiq) " You didn't have to hit me. "

Giving papa the look mama said.

(Losine) " Hmm did i hear something. "

(Martiq) " N-no my love nothing at all. "

(Losine) " That's what i thought. "

While they were doing that Virgil said.

(Virgil) " I thought we dealt with the boars... Huh, welp i'll have to bring that up to someone when this is all over. "

Taking our time to eat we got ready for our long run to the kingdom and said bye to everyone. Papa gave us a elemental boost to help with our speed and mama gave us a stamina boost and walked back to Reina and my sister but before we left he looked back to mama who was facing Reina and said.

(Martiq) " Looks like she might actually start to heal that hole in her heart. "

Then papa took the lead and broke into a run with me and my brother behind him.

--------///----Phoenix's POV----\--------

As we left the castle we decided to keep our combat forms de-materialized and only use them if we need to in order to keep ourselves in fighting condition before Amari gets here and rains hellfire down onto the noble district. As we entered the noble's district we started Arg's plan of having me stick to the back and keep myself hidden and saving the surprise of us being back until it's needed.

As Arg and Adrius went into the auction house, a three floor building made of stone with carved wooden beams with golden fillings that arc and twist all along the front and sides of the building and with chiseled stairs and railings that lead to the bronze and silver doors.

The loud and boistrous sounds coming from the auction hall quieted so fast that i thought Adrius stopped the sound from esacping the building. Then the doors were corroded off their hinges and someone was thrown outside where they landed unconcious on the pavement. Seems to be someone that i haven't seen before though considering he recieved that kind of treatment its probably best to assume it's best i didn't. I wonder whats going on inside?

--------///----Argustus' POV----\--------

After making sure that Phoenix was out of sight me and Adrius went into the auction house and not even a few seconds in and i already lost my temper. The first thing i saw was a Baron who i thought had nothing to do with Mara leading a chained woman in rags who looks no more than fifteen along with a disgusting smile on his face... That is until he sees me and Adrius and immediatly loses all the color in his face and just about shits himself.

(Arg) " Disgrace. "

Throwing him out of the doors that decayed as soon as i lost my temper i reached to the girl who had tears in her eyes and carefully corroded her chains without touching her skin before moving further in to the auction hall.

Before we got there Adrius put his hand on my shoulder and said.

(Adrius) " You going to be ok Arg? "

(Arg) " If we find more or even worse then that then no. I might end up corroding the whole damned house and in the case i do your going to have to run out as fast as you can with every innocent in here. "

(Adrius) " Understood. "

Reaching the hall's doors i kicked them down and gained the attention of everyone inside as they collectively went wide eyed and pale faced as a man who i recognized as the representative to house Arendell a house i would soon eradicate shouted.

(???) " BUT YOU SHOULD BE DEAD! WE..."

Before he could make his grave any deeper he was knocked out by Adrius who sped over to him and seperated him from everyone else and then made a break for the stage and inventory area where more commoners, nobles, or the unfortunate ones who had to live in the slums would undoubtably be.

After he was done and came back up to notify me, he brought hundreds if not thousands of my people up who seemed to show signs of abbrasions and alot more had burns, frozen patches of skin, or shallow cuts all signs of elemental attacks were all over their bodies and some had elemental restraining chains as i could recognize some of the noble families i trusted and their children mixed in. I even spotted Adrius's Aquila who gripped onto his shoulder as if her life depended on it and i couldn't say anything against her for it. Seeing this i felt my temper grow and boil even more and the scum in the hall noticed and some even tried to escape causing me to roar out.

(Arg) " DON'T YOU DARE MOVE OR I WILL CORRODE YOU ALIVE FOOT TO BRAIN! "

At that anyone aside from the chained who were startled but kept moving as Adrius kept guiding them out had stopped moving and tried to prepare for a fight despite how outmatched they were. And after what had to be a few minutes everyone had been let out Adrius shouted.

(Adrius) " We're all clear Arg you're free to let loose. "

With Adrius' affirmation i radiated my aura and all around me the ground, seats, walls and even ceiling began to wither at speeds visible to the naked eye. The scum of my kingdom tried to escape yet i blocked off any exits with my shadows and various shadow beasts to keep them trapped inside.

(Arg) " For your crimes against the kingdom, The crimes against the people, Crimes against the creatures of the worthy houses, And for being garbage lower then the scum on the furthest reaches of the world your sentence is death. "

Those dumb enough that tried to defy their ruling launched magical attacks towards me but with their negligable experience and proficiency versus my hard earned combat prowess they amounted to nothing more but annoyances to me and only led to my shadow spreading faster and when it reached the first, a woman i wouldn't allow the honor of remembering as a person, she began to dry up and her skin began to crack open and deteriorate as she began to turn into muscle and soon bone and then nothing but dust in the wind.

Seeing that any nobles left inside began to fall on thier knees and cry yet i felt nothing of their deaths and soon every single noble left inside the auction house was turned into nothing as i then began to turn the auction house itself into nothing more then a hole in the ground.

As i walked out Adrius looked to me with a sad and guilty expression on his face while the freed had been set into groups with some nobles each taking responsibility of leading the commoners back to their homes, yet they looked to me as if they saw a mythical creature and the creatures that i hadn't been acknowledged by before showed me respect that hadn't been there.

(Adrius) " I'm sorry you had to do that Arg... if i were stronger i could've helped you more... I think when this is all done i'll start adventuring again... i need to re-sharpen my skills and get strong enough to stand by your side when you need me. "

Hearing that i was a bit shocked at how Adrius felt. He had been my rival during my adventuring days but during that time i had surpassed him as he couldn't surpass A rank and in all these years despite being the peace keepers of the kingdom i can't lie to him and say he hasn't lost some edge.

(Arg) " If your resolute on this and your absolutley sure about this then i can't and won't stop you. But don't overdo it you have a family now and i don't want to be the bearer of bad news."

Hearing that he puts a smile on his face saying.

(Adrius) " The only news they'll get is me becoming S rank. "

(Arg) " Then do you best, knowing you your not going to want any royal support and want to try all on your own... Looks like Volvia wants to go with you. "

Adrius seemingly now noticing the fierce look in Volvia's eyes and her wings extended conveying that she wants to improve too.

(Adrius) " Alright Vivi when this is all over lets get stronger together. "

With Squaks of approval Volvia looked ready to adventure and get stronger. After we were finished talking we started to address the people we freed and the nobles for information. However it seems they didn't have any as the ones from the slums were forced by some mages that they couldn't recognize to leave or else they would be killed and the boy and mother Phoenix told us about refused as the boy hit one of the mages and was made an example of.

After we tried our luck with them we took the former representative of a house that will no longer exist after today and woke him up.

(???) " Whe... p-please don't i-im innocent i-i was forced. "

Looking to the scum who tried lying to me to my face i grabbed his hand by the wrist and corroded it off while making sure not to bleed him out.

(Arg) " Lie to me again and i will get rid of your foot next.

(???) " Y-y-yes your maj-jesty. "

(Arg) " Where is Mara? "

(???) " I don't know i honestly don't... Even if i did it wouldn't matter after months of planning he has contingencies against you and whatever houses try to help you. All i know is that aside from the Sandman Roots that he ammased he has someone with a connection to Qurian, it's where the supply of magic chains that we used against the mages and beasts. "

Hearing him say Qurian i couldn't help but raise my brow in confusion as Qurian was the kingdom to the north which was known to be founded on slavery... but i couldn't understand why they would involve themselves considering they were miles and miles away so why would they try anything...

(Arg) " And what insurance do i have that this information is correct? "

(???) " Not all of us put blind trust in Mara and his plan so some of us kept evidence against him to use incase he tried to backstab us. We all settled on it being sent to an adventurers guild that was clean of any noble's reach if we didn't check in every two days after this. "

Hearing the two day time frame i couldn't help but grate my teeth before asking.

(Arg) " Wheres the physical location of the evidence? "

(???) " I don't know. We decided to leave it to a third party that we had threatned with death to hide and release on the alloted time. That way no one would be able to intervene and destroy it. "

I could feel my eye twitch as i was getting no actionable intelligence from him but then i remembered why Adrius moved onto him in the first place and asked.

(Arg) " When i entered the hall you said it should've been impossible for me to be there, why? "

Gulping before he answered he was hessitant before finally settling on answereing.

(???) " Mara had us pay for the most capable assassins that we could buy and convince to kill you... we spent thousands of gold only to convince six assassins to make the attempt. "

At that Adrius twitched and tensed up as he turned to me and said.

(Adrius) " Arg there were only fivr that came for you. "

Tensing as he said that i spread my aura out to search and see if there were any people hidden in any alleys but i couldn't figure it out as there weren't any people lurking in the shadows and despite spreading my aura out i couldn't find anyone hiding from me.

(Arg) " There's no one hiding nearby and i don't feel like we're being watched... Did they just take the gold and leave? "

Hearing that Adrius looked conflicted and went into his thoughts before settling on saying.

(Adrius) " Maybe they did or maybe their waiting somewhere out of your range to catch you of guard. "

Taking what he said into consideration i was about to move towards our source and give him a painless death before i realized something i overlooked.

~ Wait where's Phoenix? ~

(Arg) " Adrius. Where's Phoenix? "

Twitching and stretching his air sense along with my shadow sense out again and we searched for Phoenix but we couldn't find him.

(Adrius) " I can only feel warmth trailing where he's gone yet i can't trace them fully back to him. "

(Arg) " If he's gone then either somethings happened to him or he saw something that he had to move on. We have to trust him. "

--------///----Phoenix POV----\--------

~ Thinking about it how many nobles are involved in this? We know Mara without a doubt is fully behind this but which families are without a doubt involved? ~

Considering i was thinking about something else i hardly noticed someone trigger my perimeter flame... Hardly.

Coating myself in flames i partially manifested my wings and took flight towards the unknown person who was seven-ten meters away only to find someone i wasn't expecting... Eli but something was off about her... She didn't feel like Eli and that made me alert yet i couldn't put my tongue on what i should've been looking out for.

(Elaine?) " Phoenix we have to go something happened with Raijin and Aria! "

(Phoenix) " What about Elinca is she ok? "

With a troubled look on her face "Elaine" then started saying.

(Elaine?) " Elinca's fine Aria made sure to heal her before sending me off... "

Aaaand there were the mess ups. We never called Jin, Raijin and aside from purposely messing up Eclina's name she said she was here and acted like she knew what she was talking about. So i did what any suspicious person with a mastery over fire would do to someone impersonating a friend did. I threw fireballs at her.

Rolling to the side the fake Eli then started to shimmer until the frame and image of Eli disappeared and was replaced by someone i didn't recognize but could obviously tell was an assassin considering the various knives and needles hidden underneath her cloak. The woman standing before me was a white eyed Silver hair with purple tips at the ends of her haired woman maybe a bit older then i was but i couldn't accurately tell since light tends to make people loook younger then they really are.

She had toned muscles that showed themselves from underneath her Black sleeves and leggings that fit her form perfectly. She had modest but still seductive curves that could attract many a people that wouldn't mind or didn't know about the assassin part. She had a heart shaped face and her hair went down to her shoulders and she was looking at me with a smile.

(???) " Thank you. The fireballs were something i could've done without but now that you found me out i can fall back without having to deal with the reprocussions of giving up this contract. "

(Phoenix) " Who are you?.. Did you purposely mess up? "

(???) " Hmmm i might as well indulge you a little bit considering i am a fan of and can relate to the whole rags to riches bit you and your friends managed to pull off. Obviously i won't tell you my name but in the underworld i'm known as many names but i'm most fond of the one i used in my adventuring days, call me Nerium. And yes i did, now that i've been found out i can avoid blood magics annoying truth spell and i can fiddle with saying i did it on purpose so i can go back and enjoy some quiet while this failed coup gets cleaned up. "

While she was speaking i couldn't keep myself from fully manifesting my full combat gear. Nerium was known as the best adventurer turned assassin in any of the main kingdoms as she used her light element to change her appearance and her air to change her voice to match who she changed into as well as using her acquired poison magic to deal with cases she didn't or couldn't risk getting involved in.

But she wasn't fazed and just kept talking and when she reached the end i de-materialized some of it and looked to her conflicted on whether i should fight her or not.

~ If all the known cases i'm thinking about are right she hasn't really killed many if any commoners and mostly took to taking requests against nobles... She could've poisoned Arg at any time too... Wait. ~

(Phoenix) " You brought up Eli, Jin and Aria did something happen to them? "

(Nerium) " About now they should've found the obese pig unless he made a clean escape. "

(Phoenix) " And where would that be? "

(Nerium) " Probably under the cathedral the catacombs were a good escape route last time i used them. "

(Phoenix) " And what do you get from telling me all this? "

(Nerium) " Nothing at all. But it would be entertaining to see his plans fall apart considering what he was planning and how he was going through with them. "

(Phoenix) " ... But don't you kill people? "

After i said that she snorted and sneered at me saying.

(Nerium) " So? I make it efficient and with small bits of suffering and go straight for the kill. I don't use despicable shit like Sandman Root to control people, use minors as hostages, or rape children. I have standards too you know. "

I couldn't help but open my mouth and just close it again as she kind of did have a point. Whoever gets targeted by Nerium gets made into a corpse within the hour... She mentioned raping children and that shut me up even more considering that i had been trying to keep that thought out of my head but now that it had been brought up i couldn't help but think of all those Mara had done that too once he got ahold of a supplier for Sandman Root.

Bringing me out of my thoughts she said.

(Nerium) " And there's the face that will never be attributed to me. The disgust, the rage, the hatred those emotions aren't ever made in reverance to me people fear, get anxious or shit themselves and it will stay that way. Anyway it was fun talking to you but it's time i head off bye now."

(Phoenix) " Wait why'd you take the contract if you were going to purposely mess it up? "

(Nerium) " I didn't want to take it someone dragged me into this by showing up on my doorstep with contract in hand and pretty much forced me into taking the contract with constantly sending puppets to keep trying. Anyway the contract like any had loopholes so exploiting them i can go and hunt down whoever made me come back. Now i'll be going ba bye. "

And with that she disapeared.

(Phoenix) " Fuck... i better head back and fill Arg and Adrius in. "

--------///----Eclina's POV----\--------

(Eclina) " Papa are we there yet? "

(Martiq) " No Eclina we are aren't there yet. "

(Eclina) " How long do we have left? "

(Martiq) " five Hours give or take. "

(L.B) " Are there any strong things to fight in the kingdom? "

(Martiq) " If there are then just know your not allowed to fight them unless i say so. "

(L.B) " Aww. "

My brother was a little sad about that but he seems to understand as he smiles and keeps running. As we were running i couldn't help but start thinking about stuff and eventually i thought about and asked papa about what he said earlier.

(Eclina) " Papa what'd you mean mama might end up healing the hole in her heart? "

(Martiq) " Losing your younger sibling hurt her... Alot and anyone that has the darkness element ends up with a harder chance at having children but the kid, Reina who has our element and being as young as she is seems to bring out her maternal instincts to protect her just as she would to any of you. And if her father is capable of bringing anything like that out of her then she might treat him as a son while she's definetly going to treat Reina as a daughter... So in a easier to understand way you can look at Reina as if she was your sister. "

Thinking about Reeina being family made me happy cause i really liked her and her headpats.After being happy for a bit i asked papa.

(Eclina) " Are we there yet? "

To which papa sighed and muttered something before he said.

(Martiq) " No Eclina we are not there yet. "