(Author: Hello. Releasing this chapter a little early. As for the hero summoning, that will be revealed later in the story as the chaos and 'end of the world' started by the forces of 'evil' haven't made their move. In my vision for this story, they don't just appear and say, "Hey there, mind if we kill you and eat feed your bodies to our forces? It's only gonna hurt a lot." Nah. I like dark stories with actions done behind the scenes that connect to form the bigger picture. The MC has only benefited so far because of his lineage. Can it be so coincidental? Hell yeah. I wrote it that way. HAHAHAHA. Elgar has left his peaceful life and entered the city of Ilgar, (ill + gar as the I is an upper case i you know). He goes to visit his fiancé and, obviously, people don't like the engagement. Remember, his soul is that a Dragon King, but he can't reveal his necromancer powers. This means he can't use his full power (publicly). Mental conversations (telepathic communications) will be in bold. Chapter is shorter as it is an into of sorts. Enjoy.)

Chapter 7: Connections over Power

The Batralga Empire was a nation of racial diversity and acceptance.

Beast kin could drink beer with a human and a demi-dragon could spar with a demi-demon without killing each other on purpose. Only mixed breeds accepted the empire. Pure dragons and demons thought the Batralga Empire was a disgrace and only had minimal interactions with the nation through trade. Beast kin loved the Batralga Empire as they had finally made peace with demon affiliated countries such as the Kingdom of Ganora where the Maltos clan lived.

The Batralga Empire had many enemies for its philosophy of racial equality and acceptance, but no country waged war with it openly. Why? The Batralga Empire was the trading center of the north eastern hemisphere of the Jupiter-sized planet. The nations were the richest in the planet. The planet may be large, but sixty percent of it was water. Even more, the time to travel between the ten continents to another one was ten years by sailing. The Batralga Empire was a major trade center, meaning it had teleportation circles to major nations the other nine continents. Power meant nothing, especially in the capital city of Ilgar. Only connections mattered.

People stared and muttered as a teenage boy in a hooded, tattered cloak appeared from the teleportation circle. Elgar stared around and found the main road. His destination was the Dune Manor and the fiancé who was apparently the beloved daughter of the Dune clan. Elgar admired the busy streets and hid his shock beneath the shadows of his hood as he saw many beast kin around. The closet he had been to one in his former life when he ate them all in a mass genocide as they refused to serve him. They tasted funny in his mouth. Even after killing and eating them all, he still couldn't figure out the flavor. A part of him wondered if it would be wrong to eat one of them as he was part human.

Many people quickly walked around him, commenting why a country bumpkin would come to the capital of the largest trading center in the world. Elgar wore the cloak as he didn't want to be the center of attention. Besides, the cloak had some protection from magic and was worn by an ancient lich. As a necromancer, the tattered cloak suited him. He followed the main road until he reached an area full of lavish estates. Many guards put up their guards as they saw a suspicious fellow in a crimson cloak walk past them.

"Such a grand estate master," Magmar commented as it peaked through the neck of the cloak.

"I'm only going in to deny the engagement. I had fallen in love once and watched as my mate left me for a stronger dragon and crushed our eggs. Naturally, I never got over it, even when I bound her in magic chains and made her watch as I ate her lover piece by f*cking piece before it was her turn," Elgar said.

"Your past life is scary. I've seen glimpses of it as I am bound to you and made of seven elemental spirits, but even my soul pales in comparison to your own," Magmar said.

Elgar laughed as his life had become more interesting now that Magmar could communicate with him. He pulled back his hood, revealing his golden eyes, ash wood horns, and light brown hair. He walked toward one of the larger estates where ten guards in shining, silver armor, armed with shields and spears, stood guard. A large sign stood above them saying 'Dune' in large letters made of gold.

"Halt! Step no further stranger," one of the knights said as he drew his sword toward Elgar as he approached them.

"I have business with the Dune clan," Elgar said. "I am Elgar, son of Edward Maltos. I have come to discuss the terms of my engagement with Lady Caroline of House Dune."

"How dare you lie to us! We are rank 3 warriors! You will be punished for your audacity!" the knight roared, charging forward with the others.

Elgar could only use water and lightning magic in front of others. He would publicly announce he could also use dark and plant magic, but wanted to keep his future competition in the academies guessing. He never wanted to use his dark magic as they were his trump card in public.

Furthermore, he could never use summoning, bone, or poison magic as an elementalist could not use them. Of his two water spells, one of them, Shark Frenzy, could only be used underwater. Unless he revealed his plant magic, he could only use two spells in total unless he fought his enemy in water. He also did not want to reveal the fact that he could use qi techniques as an ordinary mage couldn't and didn't want to draw too much attention to himself as they would declare him a genius.

"What a pain," Elgar cursed as he stood back and used water magic to create five lances made of water which swirled around him.

"A rank 2 mage wants to marry the young mistress?" the knights scoffed and filled their swords with light qi.

Elgar threw the water lances at them, the each lance delayed a knight, but the remaining five charged. Elgar hurled another three lances of water, this time aiming at their feet. The knights jumped and Elgar used lightning magic, the knights who were hit howled in pain and the smell of burnt meat filled the air. The knights were helped to their feet by the other five who were only delayed. They had forgotten that a mage could overcome a mage equivalent of a warrior to one level higher. They were rank 3 knights, but they couldn't beat a rank 2 mage. Was a rank 2 mage special? Not if they were a teenager.

"Let him in," a voice of an old woman said from behind them.

The knights, hearing the order, immediately sheath their swords and faked a smile as they gestured to the Dune Manor. Elgar stared silently at them and walked inside. Magmar, angry at the knights, jumped from his cloak and manifested to its full form. The knights stepped back in alarm and watched Elgar enter the manor with Magmar crawling behind him. Inside, Elgar entered a huge garden with red and white rose bushes all growing alongside the walls. An elegant white table and two chairs were placed on the right end of the garden where an old woman in a dark grey robe sat, drinking tea.

"You may sit," the madam said without looking up at him.

"This woman dares to disrespect you! Master, let me spew some lava on her," Magmar snarled.

Elgar merely thanked the old woman and sat on the chair, keeping his anger in check. He would refuse the engagement and find an academy. The more he complied, the faster he could deny the engagement.

"I see you only used two spells," the madam said as she gestured to a tea cup in front of him.

"I have seven spells at my disposal," Elgar said, not touching the tea cup. He didn't say eight as he didn't want to use Blood Mist unless it was to kill someone. Demon's Raiment and his three plant magic spells would only be used if the need arose.

"The scorpion seems to be a minion of a necromancer by the dark purple eyes it has as well as the runes on its carapace. Are you a necromancer?" the woman asked, taking another sip of tea.

"I am an elementalist capable of using dark, lightning, water, and plant magic. I learned a plant magic that utilized healing from Tristan Jacks, a Mage King who guards the library of my clan," Elgar said, his words true save for being an elementalist.

"An elementalist learning from a necromancer. Well that is acceptable as you can use plant magic," the madam said.

"It would be inadvisable to insult a Mage King. This scorpion is his minion and it can mentally communicate your words to him," Elgar said in a low voice.

"My apologies," the madam said quickly, not wanting to offend a rank 8 mage. A rank 8 mage was a low tier immortal but one rank away from being a full fledged immortal whose power is at the peak in the Mortal Realm.

"I have come to discuss the terms of my engagement, but I do not know your name," Elgar said.

"I am Madam Gregoria Lake. I am the head servant of House Dune and a rank 6 mage," the woman said. "I will have to politely refuse your marriage. There are many suitors after Caroline who have higher connections and talent than Sir Elgar. I would hate to see you find yourself in an accident in Ilgar."

"Are you threatening me? What have I done wrong? I have been polite, even after being attacked by your knights. Why can't I marry Caroline?" Elgar said, his hands clenching into a fist under the table.

"I am afraid a rank 2 mage and son of a fallen royal family would bring some stain on the honor of House Dune. You may be a noble and a quad-elementalist, but there are many more elementalists who can use more fields of magic and have more money and connections than you. In the Batralga Empire, connections reign over power. Even in power, you are only a little above average, seeing you defeat my knights and with the minion the respected Mage King gave you," Gregoria said, staring at his eyes. "Do you wish to continue pursuing her?"

"No. I came here to deny the engagement," Elgar said and pulled over his hood as he started walking away.

"Eh?" the madam said, flabbergasted at his quick response. "Why not young man?"

"I've no interest in a marriage planned before I was born. I also have no interest in marrying a pampered girl. I wish to live an exciting life of adventure, blood, battle, and death. Marrying her would deny me that," Elgar said as he disappeared out the gate with Magmar, leaving Gregoria with her mouth open in shock.

"He came to refuse the marriage?" she asked, numb with shock. "He said no?"

Chapter 6: Last Two Years Main Page Chapter 8: Friends and Enemies