The glass bits scattered across the wooden flooring...

...

Inside the carriage, a woman wearing a fancy attire fanned herself as she looked out the window. The man in butler attire across from her followed her gaze.

It was a sunny morning. The birds could be heard chirping together as if composing a song.

The woman commented, "It's a beautiful day outside. I wonder if the boy is faring well."

Flowers bloomed around the carriage as it passed.

"He's a tough one, matriarch. We will surely find him before the empress does."

"I hope so. He used the artifact well."

"They were wrong in underestimating Elsa's child."

"Tragic, her fate. She was a good friend."

Matriarch Lydia.

Despite being more than twice the age of her son, the emperor, she still looked like a woman in her thirties, with a mature charm.

Her hair was adorned with a golden hairpin. It looked expensive.

She asked her butler, "Any news from the tracker?"

"Yes. It was useless. Since the boy holds no magic within his body, tracking him is impossible."

Tracker. That was the term used to refer to mages that held the Mapping attribute. They were able to track the location of other people across great distances as long as they knew their target's identity.

The main condition, however, was that the target must also be a mage.

She smirked, "Good. That means that repulsive woman also won't be having it easy."

"You have been away for too long, matriarch. Your daughter-in-law has already gotten many of the powerful concubines and royal battlemages under her leadership."

"Not all of them. And even if she did, I still have the final say. In this world, the ones with most power decide its laws."

"Agreed, matriarch. Even together, they would be no match for you."

Matriarch Lydia was a Nature attribute mage. Despite being a single-attribute, she was a genius.

She could rewrite the contents of the air itself, able to make it fresher or deadly poisonous.

The massacre of six years ago was still fresh in my mind.

After that day, I had nightmares for a whole week. I remember all of it vividly.

...

"Presumptuous!"

The fat man stood from his chair and smashed his palm against the table.

He was one of the big figures of the Golden Dust Society. What Matriarch Lydia had suggested was akin to treason.

Matriarch Lydia stated, "It is undeniable that our profits have lowered over 160% ever since the Archmage took leadership. As I mentioned before, I have projects ongoing that would be best suited for turning things around."

A woman spoke with a hoarse voice, "You have begun projects without our knowledge!? Not only do you disrespect the Archmage's authority, you also have been keeping secrets from us!"

She wore heavy makeup for some reason. Whoever did it for her was very unskilled.

Matriarch Lydia sighed, then said calmly, "I have put up with this farce for way too long. Can I assume no one has the same views as me?"

She looked around. No one defended her.

The tall figure sitting at the head of the table had their face hidden behind a hood.

They spoke with a voice that sounded masculine and feminine at the same time, "You have disrespected us all with your words today, Lydia. For that, you shall be punished by handing over all projects you have kept hidden from us."

Matriarch Lydia was stunned.

She looked at the Archmage as if they had gone insane, "And if I refuse to accept this punishment?"

The Archmage stood up. He cast a spell that summoned chains made of light from the ceiling. They held matriarch Lydia by the arms and waist.

They spoke, "You will be thrown in the dungeon for a month to reflect on your actions. Meanwhile, we will seize a percentage of your assets as per the laws of the Society."

Matriarch Lydia could sense from the Archmage's voice that they were serious.

Soon, her expression changed, having realized something, "I see. It's no wonder the Society's profit has declined. You have probably been pocketing it."

"Take her away!" shouted the Archmage, impatiently.

Metallic footsteps could be heard as hooded guards wearing armored robes walked through the door.

The guards grabbed matriarch Lydia's shoulders and were about to escort her out.

However, everyone in the room soon noticed the air smelled weird.

"What's this smell?" commented one of the guards, before he loosened his grip on the matriarch.

The guards that were holding matriarch Lydia fell to the ground. If one checked their pulses, they would conclude they're dead.

"What!"

Soon, everyone had trouble breathing. Some tried to cover their noses, but that didn't solve the issue.

A man said, "She's trying to kill us!"

Fearing for his life, the fat man pointed at matriarch Lydia and was about to cast a spell, but suddenly...

"Ahh!" he screamed loudly, as branches made of bones protruded from inside his arm, tearing his skin.

His hand had become a mess as a spike made of his own bone came out of his palm.

"No!" the woman with hideous makeup work fell on the ground, screaming hoarsely. She grabbed onto the table's leg.

Casting a spell through her hand, the large table began to shape into a wooden golem.

The golem was about to hit matriarch Lydia mid-transformation, but suddenly stopped.

Someone heard a thud and looked back to check on the woman, only to see that her cheeks had become purple. She had suffocated from lack of enough breathable air.

They screamed, "Ahh!"

More began to scream in desperation as they watched matriarch Lydia eliminating them in gruesome ways.

Some pleaded for mercy, bowing in her direction.

The Archmage's arms and legs couldn't move anymore since matriarch Lydia had disconnected the muscles inside them.

They asked loudly, "How are you doing this!? Since when were you so strong!?"

Then, a surprised expression appeared on their face as if they had realized something.

They had a theory, "You have another attribute! You hid it from the government! That's a crime punishable by death!"

Matriarch Lydia looked at the Archmage with a contemptuous expression, "You're overthinking things. What is Nature to you?"

The Archmage's facial expression changed once more. It was as if they had just heard something obvious, yet unbelievable.

"No way..."

Those were the Archmage's last words, before their tolerance towards the poisonous air had reached its limit.

Since that day, matriarch Lydia had taken over Golden Dust Society. The ones that were spared by her were tasked with hiding the events that happened that night.

...

"Get up, kid. You have something important to do today."

Someone with a deep but feminine voice said so as they forcefully took the covers from my body and opened the curtains as if they were trying to tear it apart.

"I refuse. Sleep is healthy for the body and my mom wants me to be healthy."

The person stopped.

Then, they clapped twice, shouting, "Brutus!"

"Ruff!"

A fearsome bark could be heard, followed by quick, tapping footsteps on the wooden flooring.

Mirage.

My body turned blurry, then vanished as the large hound hopped on top of the bed. Another me appeared on top of the table in the corner of the room.

My legs were shaking.

The amazon of my nightmares spoke, "Shame. You'd give me less trouble if your bones were broken."

"Good morning, mom."

Sister Lin showed up and leaned on the door frame, "Give him a break, mom. He had quite a workout yesterday. It was quite a walk he had to do from here to the Seven Springs Mansion."

"You call that a workout? He should have been able to get there with a leap."

Mom turned to me, "And you will soon be able to. I got permission from the lab to use their formula on one of my children, and I chose you."

"Formula?" I pretended to not know what she was talking about.

The formula she just spoke of was brought by the new advances in alchemy they had many years ago.

They had been perfecting it for a long time. My mom worked closely with them, administering it on various subjects and comparing results between those that took it and those that didn't take the formula.

Those that took it had a clear advantage over most people, but still couldn't rival those that had trained their body beyond the peak, like the current Frontline's God of War, Aurelius.

Mom commented, "You just need to know that after you take it, you'll be strong just like mommy. I'm not gonna tolerate people calling my son Sloth anymore."

I looked at her with a lazy expression, but deep inside, I was tempted.

I could rival the empire's strongest warriors if I took it. My body would look athletic, with compact muscles like those marble statues they show in museums about ancient champions.

But I still wouldn't compare to Erik.

Erik trained his body throughout his whole life. In the end, no matter how strong I got from the formula, it would be artificial.

And I was still a child. I feared the formula would limit my potential.

It happened before. They got a long way to go before that formula of theirs is truly safe to use.

"You should give it to sister Lin. She deserves it more than me. I don't need it."

Sister Lin looked at me with a surprised expression. She didn't expect me to involve her in the conversation like this.

"You need it more than her. I have already made my decision. Get down from there or I'll make Brutus carry you all the way to the lab."

Sister Lin tried to help me saying, "Mom, brother is not a fighter. Why would he need this formula thing?"

"He'll have to fight and even lead one day."

Mom looked at me again, "Instead of sitting around all day, you'll be sent to the army. You'll make yourself useful for the empire."

Brutus hopped back onto the ground and looked at me, growling.

I spoke firmly, "No. I will stay in the palace. I'm strong enough already."

"Strong?" she scoffed.

I added, "I'll prove it however you want me to, but I won't be leaving the palace."

She looked at me with a serious expression and speaking, "Are you defying me? You think you can challenge me like this?"

The light coming through the window darkened as birds started flocking to it. Their eyes were aimed at me as they flapped their wings.

Big sister Lin stepped back. She was ready to run away if things got serious.

I used the information I had against her, "I can do whatever I want with my own life, mom. There's not much being expected of me anyway. I already know you made sister Lin the heir."

The dog's growling stopped and the birds from across the window scattered.

"What? I'm the heir? What are you talking about?" sister Lin spoke with a surprised expression on her face.

After being speechless for a while, mom spoke, "How did you know? Who told you that?"

The royal battlemage's heir was a very important position. Like a concubine's heir, they would inherit all their wealth, properties and businesses.

The major difference was that the concubine's male heir would also be acknowledged as one of the possible heirs to the throne.

Still, both a royal battlemage's and a concubine's heir were granted high nobility titles if they left the palace, depending on their contributions. They would never hold any title lower than count. It has been so ever since the founding of the empire.

I said, "I have no reason to explain how I know what I know. I will be staying in the palace."

I looked at her straight in the eyes, but I could see all my surroundings clearly with Sight Voyage.

A mosquito was about to land on my neck. I expanded the air inside its body, popping it.

Her eyebrows twitched as she felt her connection to the bug vanish.

She stared at me for a while, then spoke once more, "I will call one of the guards over. If you can knock out or kill them in a duel, I'll let you stay in the palace."

"Fair enough."

I agreed right away. After she left the room with sister Lin, I checked my bed.

There was dog saliva all over it. It was a mess.

I took a spare blanket from the wardrobe and laid it on top of the table. Then lied on it.

Sight Voyage.

...

"You may go in."

The guards made way for them to go through.

Monica looked at her surroundings in amazement. The capital looked like a wholly different world to her.

Her parents weren't much different. None of them had ever left Maroon District before.

The ground had stone paths and roads for people to walk and drive on, dividing sections of grass and flowers.

There were healthy trees and tall, beautiful wonders of architecture.

It was completely unlike the rundown buildings and mud roads they were used to.

Erik was already used to the palace's interior, so he didn't react as strongly as the three. He simply looked ahead.

The boy carried some of their luggage. The multiple bags on his arms and back looked heavy.

As they were about to look for transport, they heard a commotion nearby. People were running out of a big building that looked like a museum.

"What's going on over there?"

Monica's father asked to some passerby but received no answers. Suddenly, a section of the front wall of the building broke.

Several guards could be seem flying out from it.

"Roar!"

Everyone covered their ears as a loud roar could be heard from inside the building.

Right after, a large humanoid figure jumped out from the hole.

The dust in the air hid its true appearance.

Erik recovered himself and uncovered his ears before everyone else. Monica had fallen to the ground in tears while trembling.

Seeing Monica's pitiful appearance, Erik looked back at the monster with a serious expression.

"Beastman!"

"What is a beastman doing in the capital!?"

"Are the beastmen invading!?"

Some people shouted in bewilderment as they tried to understand the situation.

Beastman was the term used to refer to the species of people that resembled humanoid animals.

Many beastman kingdoms were allied with the empire but only some cities allowed them to live within their walls.

There was prejudice against them in most places, the same way most of the beastman society held prejudice against humans.

That's not a beastman.

As the dust settled down, they could see him.

It was a human male, tall and muscular like one of the frontline warriors.

He wore skintight shorts.

The man looked around, slowly, then commented in a deep, monster-like voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, beastman is putting it lightly."

The large man's head began to turn into a shark's, while his neck began to resemble a snake's body.

His head shot out and bit a person's head, swallowing it whole. The civillian's body fell to the ground, headless.

"Ahh!!"

"Run!!"

The crowd grew noisy and the citizens began to run for their life.

The man's head came back, attached to the long scaly neck that resembled a snake's body, and both visibly turned back to normal, making him look like a human again.

Suddenly, his whole body's skin color changed, matching the colors behind him.

Like a chameleon, he hid in his surroudings and began to eat people one by one, his head always turning into a different savage animal's each time he took a bite.

Sensing the monster getting closer to him, Erik was about to charge at it, planning to attack first.

But then, the man returned to his normal skin color as he flew in the air, seemingly grabbed by an invisible hand.

A robed woman could be seen floating in the sky. An Air attribute mage.

She said, "You have endangered the lives of the empire's citizens today and destroyed the futures of many. You will now be exec-"

As the officer was about to finish, the man disappeared.

She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he appeared at her side, kicking her head with two zebralike legs, cracking her neck.

He disappeared again as the woman's body began to fall to the ground. Erik strained his eyes in order to see what exactly was happening.

Erik noticed the man had turned into a dragonfly.

Another officer arrived by flying, attacking the man with Air attribute magic.

The male officer attacked him with blades made of wind and small tornadoes, but the man dodged around in dragonfly form.

Soon, more reinforcements arrived. A woman in officer attire flew to the scene with fire on her hands and feet.

Pointing her palm at the man, she cast a larger version of the Flamethrower spell.

The Air attribute officer formed an air barrier around himself, being pushed away once the flames cast by his colleague hit it.

The massive spray of fire lasted for a while, until suddenly a large humanoid dragon came out of the flames, flying quickly in the direction of the Fire attribute mage.

Before the monster could swing his large fist at the woman, another officer got in front of her, summoning a big portal that swallowed the monster man whole and transported him to the ground.

After noticing he had punched the ground, the monster man had a visibly disappointed expression.

Once he stood up, he saw right away that over a dozen officers had arrived. One of them was clearly about to summon chains made of light in order to seize him.

The monster said, "Tsk. Gotta bail."

He turned into a cheetah and ran away.

An officer shouted, "Chase him!"

Most of the officers chased him immediately, while some remained to take care of the aftermath.

Many people were wounded and the buildings around had received some damages.

Erik checked on Monica. She was still covering her ears.

He took her hands, "It's alright now. It's over."

She opened her teary eyes and looked around.

Her body was still trembling when she asked, "What just happened?"

"A bad man was doing some bad things, but the police took care of him." answered Erik.

Then, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Boo-hoo!"

Monica hugged Erik and let the rest of her tears fall on his shirt as she sobbed.

Meanwhile, on an alley back at the Maroon District, close to the Capital district's walls.

A large, muscular man sat on the ground, with his back to a brick wall.

His skin color matched the surroundings. Many officers could be seen running on the streets.

"Search everywhere! He couldn't have gone far!"

The man looked at them. He smirked.

Then, a ghost came out of the wall. It looked like a beautiful, skinny woman.

She spoke, "Slug accomplished his mission and the crown is back in our possession. Her esteemed self is very pleased with your successful distraction."

The man's smile slowly turned somber as he looked at the ghost girl with a conflicted expression.

He commented, "Yeah. Still hoping we don't all regret this."

"What do you mean?"

"If history has any bit of truth to it, we don't want Vanity back. Eliana is already a great leader, we don't need some psycho taking over just because she's stronger."

The ghost's expression twisted in anger, shouting, "You are to refer to her as her esteemed self!"

"Don't give me that, Cider. You're the only one who still calls her that. You're older than her master, may he rest in peace. Eliana never cared about formalities."

She gritted her teeth, "You have finished your job, now go rest. Your reward will be sent to the same location as two years ago. Your coven is still based there, right?"

"It is. Thank you. If you have another job for me, tell Eliana I'm at her service."

"You!! Disrespectful, arrogant-"

He ignored her tantrum and looked at the sky with a thoughtful expression.

"Huff." the girl stopped.

The ghost then vanished on the spot. The man got up and began to walk away, constantly changing colors, blending into his surroundings.

...

'Who are these people? The ghost girl vanished so I couldn't follow her, but I could follow him-'

My thoughts were interrupted as someone slapped my head, awakening me from Sight Voyage.

"Come." mom left the room right after saying her piece, not sparing a glance at me as I rubbed my sore head.

Did she forget that she's a woman who can outperform a hammer with her bare palms?

I got down from the table and followed her outside.

There, I could see a short person wearing a guard's attire, but they were still taller than me.

"Begin."

"What?"

Mom gave me no time to prepare as she declared the start of the duel. Multiple metallic chains flew in my direction, coming from the spell cast by the guard.

Their tips were like daggers and glowed hot like molten metal. It was probably a mage of the Metal and Fire attributes.

Mirage.

My blurry figure was pierced into a dozen pieces while another me appeared at the guard's side.

Sight Voyage.

I saw that the person behind the helmet was a man. He looked familiar for some reason.

He called back the chains. As if they were snakes, they curved around and flew in my direction again.

Whenever they were about to hit me, I cast Mirage in order to move out of the way.

Wishing to prove my point, I decided to show my mom that a simple Wind Blade spell was enough.

Wind Blade.

No one noticed it until a large, deep slash wound could be seem across the guard's body. He fell with a thud, groaning in pain.

My Wind Blade made no sound and wasn't any bit visible. It was a very advanced version of the spell.

I looked towards my mom and asked, "We're done?"

"It's not over yet."

The guard began to get up.

"You're right." I commented as I approached the guard.

Before he could make any moves...

Gauntlet - Air.

I covered my hand in an Air barrier and punched his cheek.

I'm not very strong by myself, but I could push the air with enough strength that it could rival any warrior's punch.

The guard was knocked unconscious right away, falling on the ground with a thud.

I looked at mom and asked her the same question I had asked before.

"We're done?"

"..."

Mom looked on with a stern expression, but I could feel some bewilderment from her.

I said, "I will remain in the palace."

"You would be far more useful in the army."

I firmly repeated my words.

"I will remain in the palace."

She looked at me with a reluctant expression.

Then, she sighed, "Hah. Fine. Do as you please, then."

She looked at the guard and muttered, "Sorry, Scotty."

She walked towards him. Picking him up, she carried the unconscious man away.

Sister Lin approached me.

She commented, "Wow, brother. You've really hidden your strength well."

She crossed her arms and continued, "Everyone calls you Sloth everywhere, even Carmen has been asking me if you're really my brother and not an actual sloth that mom adopted from the national zoo. But hey, you've probably been training in secret all this time!"

I looked at her with the same lazy expression as always.

I wanted to refute her words, but couldn't without sounding like I was bragging, even if it was the truth.

I said, "I'll be going back to sleep now."

As I walked away, Sister Lin's expression suddenly changed as if she had just remembered something.

"Wait! This means mom will send ME to the lab?"

She looked at her own body. Then, she looked at mom's back, in the distance.

Mom was very muscular. There weren't many feminine traits left in her body.

"No way! Brother, think about it! You'll look so cool!"

I stopped by the doorstep and looked back at her, speechless.

"Good night, sister."

"It's still noon! Brother, please! Remember everything I ever did for you? I've always been so good to you! Please! Brother-"

I closed the door without looking back.

Oh, I remembered. Scotty is one of her coworkers from the lab. Were they gathering data on me? Maybe they'll ask to run some tests on my magic power in the future.

Magic power was the generic term people agreed on for what allows a person to cast magic spells.

It is a very supernatural force, completely different from the science that the scientists use, since it couldn't be explained logically most of the time.

Everyone's magic power varied in level and attribute. My magic power was quite high, so the spells I could cast and create could range from weak to very advanced, controlled by my will and focus.

I expected them to ask for consent before testing me because I was my mom's son. Most of the time, however, they just took whatever person they wanted as a test subject, voluntary or not, and they let nothing stand in their way of doing it.

There were rumours of rare attributes like Time and Reality, and some mages that held those attributes worked in the same type of magic lab that my mom was part of.

I knew because Scotty held the rare Dimension attribute. The Scotty I fought was probably an alternate version of himself from another dimension or universe. The timid Scotty I know wouldn't put himself in harm's way like that.

Back at my temporary bed, the table, I lied down.

Sight Voyage.

...

The seer had arrived at the Diamond Tree Mansion. There was a large tree in the center of the building, allowing sunlight in.

She walked along the second floor while gazing at the tree's crystal-like leaves. They shone brightly, but for some reason, they were comfortable to look at.

It was definitely a magical tree.

A feminine voice spoke loudly, "Who are you?"

The voice came from a beautiful woman wearing a pale blue dress. She wore no makeup, nor any fancy accessories.

The seer replied, "I am someone who speaks of the future. Some refer to me as oracle. Others, diviner. Most, however, call me seer."

The woman took a sip of her water glass as she looked at the seer.

Moistening her lips, she asked, "And what would I call you?"

The seer stopped her approach. Then, she chuckled loudly while covering her mouth with her left hand.

The woman took another sip of her drink.

Soon, the chuckling turned into laughter.

"Hahaha!"

It was as if she had been filled with relief, for some reason. That was what the expression on the seer's face showed.

The seer eventually sighed with a grin, "Intruder, huh. You gave me no time to say much. The crystal clear leaves of that tree bathed in the red of my lifeblood."

The seer looked at the tree as is reminiscing a fond memory.

Her grin grew wider, her expression was one of irritation.

She said, "Your guards at the entrance were also quite tough to deal with."

There's no one outside. What is she talking about?

She looked back at the woman and said, "Intruder. It was all you ever called me. And those guards of yours? Tsk, tsk, tsk."

The seer had an annoyed expression on her face, yet her smile never ceased, "They killed me so many times. I struggled for so long..."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then continued after exhaling, "Seeing no way out, I decided it'd be better to erase them."

She oppened her eyes and slowly stepped towards the woman, looking her in the eyes.

The pale blue dress of the concubine fluttered in the wind that came from the ceiling as she took yet another sip of the water. She held no expression on her face.

The seer continued, "So... I did. They were warriors, sure. And look at me, look at my fragile build."

The seer tapped her chest with her palm.

She smiled slightly, saying, "I'm no match for warriors."

The seer stopped right in front of the woman.

She approached her lips to the concubine's ears.

The seer whispered...

"But every warrior was a baby once. So were you."

The woman finished drinking from her glass. Looking at her own hand, she saw that it was vanishing. Slowly.

The seer caressed the concubine's cheek with one hand.

A few seconds later, over half of the beautiful woman's body had already become semivisible.

"I spent over a decade of my lifespan on this spell. Ah, the things I do for money. I'll be retiring after this."

My mind hurts for some reason. But I want to keep looking.

The vanishing woman was concubine Invicta, a major powerhouse of the matriarch's faction.

Concubine Invicta was invincible in battle thanks to her double attribute magic, Death and Crystal.

She generally stood secluded in her mansion, not contacting the outside world. She only came out in moments of crisis.

She was a huge threat to the empress' faction, because if the empress ever crossed any lines, only Invicta or matriarch Lydia herself could supress her.

Invicta wasn't feeling well, probably because of whatever the seer did to her.

It hurts...

The seer said, "It was nice talking to you all these years, Vicky. I'll move to that beach house you used to live in, at Charioteer City. I'll miss you."

The seer winked at the concubine, who had vanished completely, letting the empty glass cup fall on the floor.

The glass bits scattered across the wooden flooring...