Somewhere within a dark corner underneath the Castle's floors. An elusive silence hung around the Kingdom's dungeons.
From behind a cell guarded with guards and thick iron bars, the assassin who was still in maid clothers clenched her teeth from the pain of cold metal tasting her wounds.
"That darned King!" She lashed out at the floor with anger.
"He summoned that man out of nowhere," She thought as the memories of the fight flooded into her mind.
Never had she considered that one day she would have to counter a light user, and one who was summoned from a card. And the thought of that only fanned the flames of her hatred.
Her arms swung high once again as she hissed at the iron's touch.
It had been three days now, and she was being forcefully spoonfed and forced to drink water.
A metallic clang came from the cell door; her brows tightened.
"Oh my, oh my," said a familiar voice whose tone she despised.
Her eyes lit up as soon as she saw that Draped-haired fellow in another set of grey robes, staring at her with a condescending smile and his brush in between his fingers.
Ian brought his face closer to hers, his eyes twinkling as if she were a toy. "Are you finally going to talk today?"
She summed up the courage and spat at him.
"My King, as you can see. Clearly, the chains haven't tasted enough of her blood," Ian said while using the hem of his fabric to remove her gob from his face.
He even dramatically raised his nose and sniffed the air.
"Tch, blood and metal leave a bad smell after all,"
It was here that she realized that she'd never heard the doors being pushed since they were opened.
Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated as another figure strolled into the room.
"You!"
She shouted, "Shouldn't you be dead?!"
Ryan shook his head at her remark, "For an assassin who was quite composed about killing, you're quite vocal when you lose."
"Because you summoned—" She eyed Ian, "That thing!" glaring daggers at the Light User.
To Ryan, what could he say? A win is a win, and now he was sure of Ian's fact.
Truly, she wouldn't talk.In spite of that, he came here that because he wanted to try something else.
"Since you already know that I can summon figures like him." He said, arms behind his back as he strode towards her.
Red and gold patterns circled around his palm, manifesting into the Flaming Umbrella.
Ian stared in wonder, then watched as the King placed the umbrella's sharp tip against the assassin's shoulder.
'Is he using an umbrella for interrogation? What an interesting man.'
The Assassin looked back at the Monarch with a piercing glare, a bold and quite contrary behaviour to what Ryan was expecting.
Regardless, he maintained a listless gaze and activated the luck changer skill as he asked the assassin a question, "What nation sent you here to attempt becoming a King slayer?"
[How much luck points do you want to spend on this?]
He had to test the range.
'1'
The assassin clicked her tongue at him as the blade pressed against her shoulder and chuckled, "A King of your level doesn't know the greatness of my nation. It is why yours will crumble soon enough."
Ryan frowned at the answer and proceeded to move the umbrella's blade away from her.
'It seems 1 was quite insufficient in giving the desired outcome.'
He could salvage what he heard which was quite little, but clearly there was an external power and, most importantly, a traitor, mole, or a group consisting of either of them in the court.
The only thing for an external power to influence was that, and although he hadn't seen it, he was sure its full venom would spill.
Deciding to play a little prank, he let out a chuckle, "Thank you for your words."
The assassin snickered in response, "I know that I told you nothing."
'Fair enough.'
"Oh, but you did."
~~~
After an uneventful time spent in the dungeon, Ryan and Ian returned to the floors of the Palace.
As they strolled, a certain thought kept bugging Ian's mind, but he stifled it.
'Can i directly battle the master?'
"Sure, you'll get what you need," He answered the thoughts in his head before hearing a pause in the footsteps sounding over the hallway.
The King glanced around, hand below his chin as he contemplated for a moment.
"I need to take a tour of the Palace."
And with that, Ian found himself walking out of the halls and into the narrow, interior stone passageway that stretched within the castle and across its four towers.
He wondered how much of a labyrinth this man's mind was when making plans at a whim.
To Ryan, it was the first time he was paying notable detail to the place. When he first arrived, all he wanted to do was sleep.
They soon reached the inner balcony, where Ryan could see the interior courtyard, and the little shed by the pool, which the assassin had made him burn.
Now it was being rebuilt by workers, and with stone rather than wood.
It occurred to him that such a shed shouldn't have existed in the first place if many were flame users. That explained why there were hardly any plants to see.
Thinking about it now, except for when he was in the inner courtyard, he had never seen anyone use the flame.
'Is there a rule against this?'
A small distance from the balcony was a fifth, much larger block with a dome that dwarfed the four towers in size, with its rounded head connected to a spire.
Four, long cobblestone paths connected the block to the four towers.
The Throne Hall.
"You had better be able to dodge this one!" A loud shout echoed from one of the rooms nearby, catching both he and Ian's attention.
Curious, the two of them hastened their pace towards an open door, only to see a breathless Pierre spinning away from a searing gust of fire that swept across the floor, leaving behind a deep scorch mark.
"Nameless, couldn't you do better?!" shouted a dark-toned woman in Pitch black armour.
Pierre was panting hard, sweat dripping from his forehead and also dampening his material.
"Or are you a tad too old to be the King's fighter as a weapons affinity user?!" The Woman commented as she pounded her knuckles before hitting the floor.
A bright red runic circle appeared below her fist, and another appeared under Nameless's feet.
Sensing a warm heat exuding from it, Pierre's face turned pale as he leaped, barely avoiding the bursting line of fire.
"Ahh, perfect!" He heard a hint of happiness in his opponent's voice. Her palm aiming at him with a glowing rune hovering in front.
"Now deal with this!" She yelled.
Another beam of fire shot towards the drained warrior, who simply put all his strength into his blade.
The attacks collided, creating an explosion on impact.
The woman with a big, sturdy appearance tightened her expression and cracked her knuckles as smoke filled the room for a moment.
Pierre, on the other hand, landed on the floor with a heavy thud and a body soaked in sweat.
As he spent the time focusing on regaining his strength, the opponent walked towards him, footsteps sounding across the room with each step.
"Barely 6 moves and you're already done. A bit better than last time, but still..." She went on one knee and continued, "How did you survive with the King during your journey back here, and through that forest?"
"As well as you fighting against an Abyssal Rare Beast?" She added.
'How did he survive?' Ryan, who overheard the comment was visibly stunned.
'Heck, he was the one who gave it the first defeat.'
The dark-toned woman with flaming red eyes and low-cut hair clicked her tongue. After shaking her head, she turned, unaware that Ryan was subconsciously staring at her.
[Character Info
Name – Melia Rigor.
Title – Beast Slayer, Major of the First Marshal's Army
Elemental Affinity – True (Flame)
Core Grade - Second Realm
Skill – Permeator
Description
Melia hails from the common house of Rigor. At the age of 7, she could create runic circles and had slain her first Abnormal Beast at the age of 9.
She leads as a Major of the First Marshal's Army. In addition, she happens to be Pierre's master and the one who taught him how to use the runes.]
'A Major whose core is at the second realm? Slain her first beast at 9. What the...'
Ryan didn't know when a smile had crept onto his face while he was thinking.
'From Ridlockia's ranking system, she's likely a skilled or advanced user. Ahead of those two is Expert.'
Soon enough, Melia spotted Ian and the thinking King, then made her way over to their side.
"Afternoon, your Majesty," She greeted with a bow, jolting him to the present.
"Afternoon," He answered.
Melia then raised her head to see the fellow beside the ruler, wearing long, grey robes.
Her eyes then lit up with an excited glint as she noticed the yellow colour in Ian's eyes.
"So you're a light user?"
"How do you know?" Ian's eyes lit up as Ryan's face nearly went aghast, deeply shaken by that reveal.
"My eyes were all natural before they were touched by my advancement to the Second realm. Hence their red colour."
"I see," said Ian, "However, I have not advanced to the second realm, hence my yellow eyes are simply genetics."
"Oh," Melia's gaze intensified, "So what body part of yours will change colour?"
"I am not quite sure, maybe my eyebrows?" The Light User replied.
The duo burst out laughing at the comment, and Ryan just stood between the two, wondering how they had glazed over him.
Ian then looked at Melia, speaking once more, "I've never sparred with a Permeator, but I did hear before that they are quite strong."
Melia answered with a smirk, "An Old friend, once a traveler told me that light users have this innate aura of purity."
Ian chuckled, "Well, I can't say for sure, my favourite colour is yellow, so it is considered pure?"
"No element is considered pure. After all, they are all variations of white."
Witnessing the interaction between the two was making Ryan question whether his decision to pick this light user was right at all.
'Why am i being the third party in this?'