“This just ain’t right…” The old man’s words were soft and solemn as he watched Viran carried off away to the estate by the rest of the Knights.

The old man desperately wanted to help the boy, but it was a simple fact that the old man was unable to do anything. A magic user born in the Empire would never stay in their home village. Their future was tied with the Empire itself. That left the village with only normal people, and no amount of people could stand up to a magic user.

Even the warm compassion of the old man and the villagers had their limits. They were a close knit community, Viran was sadly not worth dying over.

The old man gripped his daughter’s hand with a solemn frown and hurriedly turned his head away from the boy. As it may be the only remaining family to the old man of the village was his only daughter. The old man ducked his head down into the crowd as he pulled his young daughter along with him, Viran’s life was simply too insignificant compared to his family.

The old man was sorry, but he couldn’t afford to throw away his life or his daughter’s.

As the man walked away amongst the crowd, a small yelp was heard behind him as gasps of horror rose out of the crowd.

Looking back the old man could see a lightly armored Knight stinking with the smell of hard liquor. His face was completely calm, the only outlier were his shaky eyes. The Knight gulped heavily as he stared at the old man’s daughter and his grip on her tightened.

“Y-you wouldn’t mind helping out a lonely Knight would you?” His disgusting voice stank of alcohol and perversion, once more shudders of shock were sent throughout the crowd.

The old man’s face grew dark as his heart thumped heavily. The old man knew exactly what point the Knight was trying to get across. It pained him to even think about it.

“N-no Sir Knight please!” The old man begged as he tried to pull his daughter away. It didn’t matter how hard he tried sadly, no amount of will and desperation could break through the Knight’s strength.

“Shut up old man.” The Knight spoke a deathly whisper to the old man that sent shivers down the villagers bones.

The old man practically shook in his boots as he stared down the Knight. In the end his own fears took the best of him and he hurriedly pleaded with the Knights to intervene.

“Mercy! Please!” The old man begged with tears already brimming his eyes.

However no amount of words would convince the Knights. The same scenario had already happened once in this village, the only reason it hadn’t occurred again was due to Viran’s forte at getting beat up and ruining the mood. Though most of the Knights had shameful looks of guilt written upon their faces, quite a few of the more senior Knights and talented ones had looks of glee and cold smiles.

“Quiet down old man! He lost his brother in the massacre down South while he was protecting your very livelihoods!” A Knight barked at the old man, sure enough the old man’s own pleads fell upon deaf ears.

The old man’s grip loosened as time went on, but he hadn’t lost hope yet. He looked behind him at the villagers that had stopped to watch one of their very own taken, yet even they refused to meet the old man’s gaze. As a look of betrayal surfaces upon the old man’s face the villagers steadily begin to walk away. None wanted to suffer the consequences of disobeying the Knights within the village and as long as peace could be maintained, they were willing to sacrifice the girl.

“Pa…” Tears of fear seeped out of her eyes as she whispered.

The old man cried as his fingers loosened around his daughter’s wrist, and his own old heart and compassion were shattered into a million pieces.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Sava clicked his tongue disgruntledly.

“It’s a shame this all happened, boy. But don’t feel so bad for these villagers, after you’re dead we’ll leave the village in one piece. Maybe.”

Sava and his companions laughed together as Viran’s mind buzzed in shock. He had seen everything that went down in the village, and he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

“Don’t blame yourself, kid. Blame your Father for screwing up the South.” Sava spoke in glee. “After all thousands of Knights and even Nobility died when fighting that Hydra down South. Who would've guessed a death-ridden King Hydra still had enough kick in it to kill over twenty thousand Knights over the course of the week only to then die. Of course after it’s death was sensed by the rift beasts that evacuated from the area they began to invade the frontier as well. That resulted in even more dying.”

Although what Sava said was all true, the tone he spoke in was simply too astounding to the Knights around him. It was true that Sava was the most senior Knight within the estate, but most of the Knights present had a relative or a friend die down South. Such an event could only be called catastrophic.

“The Southern Faction practically dissolved within a day, and finally the Emperor got what he wanted most. Increased centralization of the Empire through the magisterium. Before there were simply too many limitations surrounding what the Magisterium could do. Now with Lord Idicium bending the knee and Duke Oriens of the North already being for the Magisterium reforms, Margrave Zora simply has no choice but to accept the loss of independence.”

Viran’s fingers twitched as he felt himself steadily regain use of his body. The spell’s effects were wavering now, but he knew now wasn’t the time to strike.

As Viran felt his body finally lowered towards the dirt, he could see the pristine limestone wall of the estate behind the Knights readying themselves to kill a kid. So much time had passed that the rats were dead and the rebuilding of the estate was complete entirely. Viran wondered what spurred these Knights into executing such malicious acts.

“Of course you may believe that such high politics doesn’t affect a man like myself. But it does. Do you have any clue when was the last time we got a real shipment of food and materials? It’s already been three months. We’ve been left here to rot away by those Magisterium bastards and those Noble bastards somewhere along the way.” Sava’s eyes turned even colder as he slid his sword clean out of his scabbard.

“We’ve been forgotten because of the politics your Father got us into…” Sava’s words trail off before he raises his blade high up in the air. With a laugh filled with ecstasy he yells out once more.

“At least once you’re dead Craynor won’t forget us too!”

Immediately Viran could feel his body burning up with mana and immediately the boy kicked off the ground onto his feet. The Knights were momentarily awed at the sudden move of Viran, but Sava himself was wary of this from the very beginning.

With a single kick off the ground Viran could feel his muscles tighten dramatically as he ran towards the estate wall. The boy ran in such high speeds that shocked the Knights, yet even that was not enough against a talented mage.

Yellow mana travels across the body of a Knight in a flurry and is sent out as an incredibly fast lightning. Its arc blasts across the entire distance between him and the wall and lands directly in front of Viran. The Knight had aimed to maim Viran immediately with a single spell, but with a single expert maneuver the spell was rendered useless completely. Once Viran felt the distorted mana behind him he knew what was to come and switched directions in a moment’s notice.

“By order of Luc! Slow!”

The sudden scream elicited a black miasma to envelop Viran. The miasma clung to his skin before being sucked into his skin. Viran could feel a weight put itself onto him. At first it felt as though he was wearing a heavy wool sweater but quickly Viran could feel himself dragging his feet behind him as his body felt even more weighed down. His body felt heavy like lead and his head pounded in pangs of pain. Even with the use of Resilient Hold Viran was barely able to move forward.

It was the use of a curse. A curse was the opposite of an enchantment and instead debuffed its target with some sort of ailment. Viran hadn’t noticed it back in Tenus Forest, but the fear induced spell that the Knight used was also a form of a curse.

“Shit!” Viran gritted his teeth as he steadily ran his mana across his body to filter the curse out of his body, a very slow process that would require time. But that was the thing, the Knights wouldn’t give him any time.

Viran’s eyes shut tight close together as an everblooming death surrounded him. It was hard for him to admit it but he had always been afraid of death. There truly was no difference back then in Tenus Forest or even here in the Wakeford Estate, Viran was willing to fight tooth and nail to survive out of fear. He needed to succeed for himself, he refused to let all of his work become nothing. There was a burning fire of anger welling up in the boys gut. Were such anger to burst one of these days, it was unknown just what kind of heinous crimes the boy would be willing to commit. Crimes he would commit all for the sake of paying homage to his deceased teachers, and his own wishes of a new world for himself.

Death never met the boy that day. An all too familiar man acting out a memory from the depths of Viran’s memory showed up suddenly. His messy black ponytail swayed along with every stroke of sword. Blood flowed and seeped out into the dirt, all Viran could do was watch in awe.

“Fuck!” Sava cursed as he cradled his cut arm.

“You’re Sava right?” The icy calmness of the man shocked Sava as his black sword still dripped in blood.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Who are you?” Sava cursed repeatedly as his pale turned pale. Soon his eyes trembled as he stared directly into the icy black eyes of the swordsman in front of him, his black blade tapped the top of his head.

“Where’s the bitch Drina?” The swordsman asked about the presence of a person as he looked behind him. His eyebrows arched up in surprise at the sight of the deathly pale boy.

Though it had been years since they’ve seen each other, Viran knew he couldn’t ever forget the man that saved his life. The man that helped him through so much trouble. Along with Rufus, Elena, Jules, and Julia; there was simply no way Viran could ever forget Marcus.

“S-South! South of Creaton Falls! Don’t kill me!”

As Sava gave his answer and pleaded for his life, his life was mercilessly cut down within a single stroke of Marcus’ blade.

“M-Marcus?” Viran quietly asked in horror.

The iciness that plagued his face, the calm aura he exuded, and the arrogant swordsmanship he performed; it was all the same. However Viran knew something was different about his old friend. Viran couldn’t understand it himself, but somehow he could see some familiarity of himself in Marcus.

“...Long time no see.”

The crisp and solemn words eked out of Marcus as his eyes stiffened.