To be considered exceptional.
To be considered a prodigy.
And to be considered a rule breaker.
In the centuries since the demons invaded the planet, many have proclaimed them as such. From the warmongers, Servantis, to the first emperor of the Sword Empire, Venus Maximus. Each were called one of a kind beings that could shatter the fundamental rules of the world and had surpassed the base mark known as SSS+.
Such beings of legends had been epics Holi grew up with, and yet he never witnessed one, so he used to consider them mere exaggerations. That was until his first encounter with the boy known as Klaus Bladeheart.
It had been the annual meeting of the Bladeheart family. A time where both the main and branch families would gather together, socialize, and bear witness to the new generation of scions.
Back then, Holi was no elder. He was a teen and among the dozens of elite warriors who graced the family with their talent. As a senior to the upcoming scions, it was his job to impart unto them knowledge and a few fighting styles to guide their martial future.
Proud to do so, he met many of his juniors, taught a few the basics of Aura techniques, and even corrected their flaws. As someone fairly talented himself, he was adorned with praises wherever he went, especially by the children who regarded him as a celebrity.
Anyway, everything seemed fine—that was until he appeared.
The Patriarch's younger son, Klaus Bladeheart. He had recently turned ten and had his Aura efficiency graded, and he didn't just ace it—no, he went a step further and surpassed it.
Back then, the highest any human had attained was platinum. It was what the emperor himself had been graded as, but this boy had surpassed it. He attained, for the first time in centuries, an unmeasurable efficiency.
Undoubtedly making him the greatest genius of the Empire.
When such a child stepped into the courtyard where the gathering was being held, there was silence. The kind of silence that denoted respect and the arrival of a higher power. Even the Patriarch, fearful in his own right, couldn't help but be drawn to the presence his son gave off… what more him… a mere elite.
There, right there, Holi understood one thing.
Exceptional beings indeed did exist… there were no exaggerations, and the boy whose gaze swept mischievously across the courtyard was the greatest of them all.
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"So will I be justified in killing you then?"
Within the center of a hellscape, Holi, feeling the cold steel against his throat, paled, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead as he heard the voice behind him. That voice—familiar, not in the good way—belonged to a man who had followed in his father's footsteps.
Abel Bladeheart. One of the three anomalies of the Bladeheart family.
Just like his father, his presence demanded respect, and Holi, feeling like he was trapped within a Venus trap, couldn't help but raise his hands in surrender.
He didn't do something as foolish as try to fight back or grow irritated because a boy he surpassed by almost two to three decades had scared him. He was arrogant but more importantly logical. He knew when to make an enemy and when not to.
Compared to Vanessa, who still had room for improvement, Abel, her older brother, was currently in his prime. A true S rank and also the strongest S rank. They both might share a class, but there were layers of difference between their strengths—ones which he didn't want to be reminded of.
"Always a smart one, Uncle Holi."
Retracting his blade, Abel, his gaze serene and dressed in noble attire, stepped into the spotlight, leading to Vanessa biting her lips in anger.
"What are you doing here?"
Gazing intently at her brother, she snapped, only to freeze as she was subjected to those enigmatic pale eyes of his.
"Shouldn't I be asking that, dear sister?"
Vanessa's breathing hitched, and she found herself looking back at her reflection in her blood.
"Vanessa, over the years, you have tested my patience. I doubt you'll ever stop, just as much as I doubt Alex would ever stop being your punching bag, but this…"
Directing his gaze to the burning surroundings, the corpses, and the wounded guards that survived, his tone grew more pained.
"So many innocents killed just so you could prove a point."
"Since when did you care about the innocent, you ice-cold bloody bastard?"
Abel, running his fingers through his platinum-colored hair, glanced at Holi, who shrugged in response.
If Abel was indeed being honest, he didn't particularly care who died or lived. Neither would the deaths his sister caused make him lose sleep over guilt, but he found it worrying.
In just a week, both of his siblings had decided to massacre people. One he found justified, simply because it was an act of self-defense, but this however was—
"It seems killing demons has made you forget the value of human life."
"It hasn't."
Vanessa stood up and stomped at Abel, who remained unfazed even after his collar was grabbed and he was forced to stand on his toes.
"I gave them each a chance to surrender…"
"And how did that turn out?" Abel responded, his tone clearly sarcastic.
"It doesn't matter. They were roadblocks and I simply crushed them as such."
"What if they had families then?"
"…"
Vanessa could not respond after that.
"The elites you killed probably had families. And right now, just as you want to protect our siblings, so too did they want to do the same—from you."
Vanessa's hold on his collar loosened and her eyes dropped low.
"What have I done…"
Collapsing on her knees, she whispered, her expression blank as paper. She and done excalty what she warned Alex about.
Abel, ignoring her for the time being, turned to Holi before speaking.
"I will take reasoning for this. For the time being, she will be eliminated from the Inheritance duel."
"Are you forsaking a mark to the branch alliance?" Holi's eyes widened, and he soon cracked a saddened smile as realization dawned on him.
"So this was his scheme!" Holi remarked, and Abel sighed, a nod following after.
The act of assassination, not the assassin himself, had been Kain's objective. Whether Alice lived or died, it didn't matter. He just needed to end in a reaction, and Vanessa had done just that for him.
She had been played and now had become a liability that would tilt the odds of winning in Kain's favor.
Abel, who had been a second too late to warn Vanessa, now stared into the distance.
Meeting the gaze of his uncle, who had been observing everything with a smile on his face.