My Devourer System: Rise of the Bastard Son

The shack was quiet for a moment. The voices of people in the courtyard invaded the room. Lucen clicked his tongue.

"That's a good idea. We need to disrupt whatever they are planning there. Chester should send his best out there—"

"No, it has to be you," said Windy. "There are connections between you and the fate of the Red Keep."

"You, as in who—me?" Lucen blanked.

"I think I've already said this enough, but you cannot run from destiny," Windy said sternly. "It'll just chase you harder."

Lucen stared into her dark eyes for a moment, before sighing. He didn't say anything else.

"How is he going to join them to retake the Keep?" Liam complained. "The story of the Blood King was in the Lavender Keep, right? Lucen is still a Squire, he can't add anything to a fight at that level."

The Blood King. Heretic master of the Lavender Keep. He was defeated by the Blue Feather Knight, and the Keep was given to her family.

What Liam was referring to was the fact that before her, ten Grand Knights and an army of soldiers sieged the castle for almost five years with no progress. A Squire would be there as a water boy at most.

"On the night of the Empty Sky, I will come up with a way for us to do it," Windy assured. "And why does it have to be a siege? There are other ways to bring down an enemy."

Lucen raised his hand. "Let's put the idea of righteous war aside till the Empty Sky. Windy, you promised me a High-rank spell."

"Exactly why I came here," she said, pulling out a scroll from under her purple robes. "It is a Wind mana spell, but I'm sure you'll find a way to make use of it."

He didn't like the way she said that. It was like she never believed him when he told her he only had a Low-rank elemental technique.

He took the scroll from her. "I'll see what I can do."

He only had a Heroic-rank technique for now. He couldn't even imagine the things Ascension or King rank could do.

Lost Wind stood, rubbing her belly and smiling widely.

"Well, I'll leave you to your business. It's so nice to have one live through the first roadblock."

She did not explain herself, and simply walked out of the shack, whistling.

"What the fuck is that meant to mean?" Liam muttered.

"I don't care anymore," Lucen said, yawning as he rose to his feet too. "I need to get to the Training yard or Warren will kill me before the wolves even get here."

■——■

The grass field sitting atop the annoying set of stairs was swaying in the wind. The green colours glowed in the light of the Halo softly, and the warm air was fresh and energizing.

The beautiful day was ruined by his peers staring at him as he approached them. Warren stood in front, introducing the Mid-tier Knights they would work with. His eyes flashed towards Lucen, annoyed, but he ignored him.

Set also looked annoyed that he skipped their morning meeting in the Crystal Dome. Ymir glanced to and from him rapidly, embarrassed.

He didn't blame her for the tantrum. Lord knows he raged anytime he lost a game of even P*kemon.

"So follow your given Knight, and show them what you are capable of," Warren concluded. Immediately, he was marching off to deal with something else.

Which Knight was he assigned to? He was about to follow one, when a hand grabbed his shoulder. It was Helie. He let her pull him towards their assigned Knight.

She looked a bit annoyed with him. But everyone was.

"Hello, Squires," the Knight said, moving his hands around extravagantly. "I am Sir Thomas. Let me know your names."

"Helie."

"Kon."

"Hither."

"Elle."

"Lucen."

When Thomas' eye fell on him, he reeled back a little, like he had seen something disgusting.

"Good, good. Now I would like to know the spells you've mastered—I mean the ones you can call on anytime—and your choice of weapon and fighting style."

Thomas kept nodding too hard, and brushing back his shiny black hair. He punctuated each of their explanations of their abilities with how he could do better, and an illustrious story of how much stronger he was at their age.

"So you only have a spell for keeping yourself balanced and to veil your mana?" Thomas chided. "Being a halfblood is not an excuse to slack off, nor are your recent achievements. At your age, I was hunting Volcano Bears, and I had mastered four spells. But I guess you can't expect much of one such as you."

Oh, the childish desire to reveal you had almost ten spells, and bet that you could easily kill ten Volcano Bears, even though he had never met one.

"I'll start by dueling some of you lightly," Thomas said, "so we can get used to our styles. Don't worry, you can use your actual weapon. I have tempered my body; you can't easily injure me."

They looked a bit worried to go up against a Mid-tier Knight, but Thomas called Kon up to face him. Lucen quietly hoped he was next as he stood on the sidelines.

Kon raised his sword and gulped. Thomas' sword was pointed at the ground, and a hand was on his waist.

"Come on then," Thomas beckoned.

Kon darted towards him, his sword flashed upward, and Thomas simply deflected it. Then Kon skipped around him to strike at his back, but the moment he lost sight of Thomas a little, he was gone.

Kon looked around, bewildered. Then Thomas tapped him on the shoulder. Kon nearly jumped out of his shoes. He attacked once more, glaring, but Thomas easily deflected it.

They both hopped around for a few minutes, but Thomas was so much faster and unaffected by the force of Kon's strikes that the fight went nowhere.

Finally, Thomas disarmed him with a flick of the wrist.

"You're too simple," Thomas sighed. "There's nothing elegant to your style."

The entire group looked pissed. He hadn't even taken Kon seriously, and now he was giving bullshit advice.

Helie stepped forward to volunteer, but Lucen was already moving. He summoned his silvery spear and stepped up to Thomas' annoyed face.

"Please instruct me next."