29 Magic Blooming (REWRITTEN)

Planet Lonope

Dorcaster Star System

31st December

Year 710 of the 50th General Calendar

A silver-haired youngster had his eyes closed as he sat cross-legged on a rock in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by green trees on all sides.

His brow was currently furrowed as he sat atop the rock with a frown on his face and kept his hands on his laps.

Behind him, a brown four feet tall wolf stealthily crept towards him with its jaws wide open. The moment it got into range, the wolf did not hesitate in pouncing on him.

It jumped off the ground with enough force to create a small crater in the ground and it fully believed that it would be able to snag the unsuspecting youngster for breakfast today.

"GROAH?!"

Unfortunately, it seemed the wolf's 'breakfast' was already aware of its existence. The young boy suddenly twisted his body and threw out a punch towards the wolf, hitting it square in the face and sending it flying.

**BAMM!!!!

The wolf crashed into some of the trees that surrounded the clearing, destroying a few in the process, however, the one who sent it flying remained seated atop the rock.

"...I couldn't use it. Even the most basic body strengthening. I couldn't use it."

His eyelids opened up slowly to reveal a pair of eyes with dark vertical slit pupils that fit perfectly on his face. His other facial features were highly handsome and his current lack of expression made him look cold and aloof.

"Tsk...This is bad. I can't use my energy at all."

The youngster, Devilian Prince Arthur Vaughn, clicked his tongue as he spoke of the reason for his current sour mood.

"GROWLLLLL!!!"

He looked up to the wolf that growled loudly before dashing towards him and slashing with its claws.

"Predictable..."

Arthur spoke as he flicked his wrist and created a sword of ice from using the weapon creation artifact on his wrist.

**SHRINNGGG!!!

The ice sword and the claws of the wolf clashed creating a clear resonating sound. On the side of the wolf, it was surprised upon seeing the weapon that came out from nowhere.

On Arthur's side, he made the decision to vent his anger on the wolf that dared to attack him.

He parried the wolf's claws, causing it to lose its balance before throwing out a punch to its side with his other hand. He then stood up and kicked off the ground afterward, dashing towards the wolf with his sword raised high.

**SWISH!!!

The sword was swung faster than the poor wolf could react and its head was separated from its neck. By the time the wolf's body crashed on the ground, it was already dead.

**BAMM

Arthur landed and stabbed his sword in the ground to stop himself from crashing into the wolf's corpse and the trees behind it.

He then turned around and looked to see if he could sense any other monsters but there was nothing in the area. The wolf was the king of this territory so all other monsters steered clear of this area.

It would take a while before they found out about its death and begin the fight to select the new ruler of the forest.

Arthur flicked his fingers and dismissed the magic sword before thinking out loud with a pensive look on his face.

"I have the energy so artifacts that automatically absorb energy can work. However, I can't use it to cast magic, nor can I use my aura that I just gained not more than 6 months ago.

And I was about to learn that 'Sword of Victory' technique Uncle Creusery taught me."

He was about to go back to the rock in the middle of the clearing when he suddenly felt a searing pain run through his entire body.

"Guh!!"

He dropped to his knees as he grunted in pain due to the fact that his energies were currently running wild in his body. His magic and aura were dormant, but his divinity and his fourth unknown energy seemed to be battling each other for dominance in his body, causing him great pain.

Spider web-like cracks spread out across his arm as the pain he felt increased. Suddenly, his shoulder blades began aching him and he felt like something was trying to pierce through his bone.

Unfortunately, he would not be conscious to see what it was as he passed out a moment later.

◇ ◇ ◇

Layla Eryrth heaved a sigh in exasperation as she sat opposite her parents in the carriage that was moving towards the Devilian Royal family's Castle on Planet Aeturn.

The nine-year-old counted down the days to her tenth birthday before her thoughts wandered to the events that happened in the last two years.

Within the following days after her duel against Arthur, she came to understand the reason for the looks of pity she received that day.

To sum it up nicely in one word, Arthur was the very definition of 'whimsical'.

He acted as he pleased with little regard for the consequences and seemed to delight in messing with the Devildom's nobles.

Nevertheless, the young prince always took matters relating to increasing his strength very seriously and rarely skipped out on training with his mother and uncle.

Besides that, he could be considered the being with the most carefree attitude she knew of, besides his mother, that is.

One time when she was at a tea party hosted by a young noble lady like herself, he waltzed right in and grabbed her, telling her to follow him to where he was going.

Upon asking where he wished for her to follow him to, he only smiled mischievously before replying.

"I dunno yet, I'll think about it on the way, I guarantee it's definitely gonna be more interesting than gossiping over tea though."

His reply was the epitome of tactlessness. He reduced the 'tea party', an event for socialization between ladies of the high society, to nothing more than a gossip fest.

If that was all he did, she would not have many problems, however, Arthur dabbled in a lot of things. On the outside, he gave everyone the feeling that he was an average high-profile prince with above-average talent.

Just one with excessive kindness and a carefree attitude, not too smart for his age, but not too dumb.

With the help of the best information dealers in the hell universe; the drifters, he was working towards reducing the number of rumours that said he was some sort of one-in-a-million-years genius that had previously spread.

Although he was high profile, he liked to keep certain things like how talented or how strong he really was hidden.

Besides Layla, her father, and his immediate family members, no one knew that he was already a superior stage master. Everyone else believed he was still in the intermediate stage.

Thanks to his connections with the Hell Drifters' leader, Larry, and the other important figures that Creusery had introduced him to over the years, he was able to gain access to a variety of underground events.

Most of the time, he attended auctions that touched the line of what could be considered legal by the Devildom's laws and bought a myriad of artifacts from there to fill up the artifact collection he began when he was seven.

Some other times, he led a bunch of royal knights from the castle over to the locations of these events to crush them simply because he felt like it.

To prevent this, the organizers usually changed locations but unfortunately for them, the drifter's information gathering was second to none so the young prince always found them every time.

He also used the excuse of gaining battle experience to take part in the ensuing chaos that resulted from his actions of crashing their underground events, giving the guard detail his mother placed on him a headache every time.

His actions led some of the leaders of these underground societies to realize they had to curry his favour in order to continue doing business.

As for the illegal ones who were being sponsored by some nobles of the Devildom, he ended up letting them be due to their statuses as nobles, but this gave him leverage over them that he could use at will.

◇ ◇ ◇

Layla's thoughts shifted over to the agreement she made with Arthur a few months ago. The Devildom of Hell was not the only devil-ruled universe in the area so it had to maintain a good relationship with the other surrounding universes ruled by devils.

A few of them adopted a monarchy system like Hell did, with a king or emperor ruling as the master and the entities of these pantheons being nobles.

This brought the possibility of political marriages between the children of the entities of these pantheons intending to strengthen the ties between pantheons.

As the daughter of one of the main entities of the pantheon, Layla was a prime target for the young nobles of other pantheons. The same was the case with the newest addition to the Devildom's royal family, Arthur.

The two came to a mutual agreement to use themselves to ward off potential engagement requests, starting with Arthur using the drifters to spread rumours that they were engaged.

Of course, this was false but only those who were close to them like their family members and Layla's female best friend knew of this truth.

Layla felt a bit scared of the possibility of being attacked by the jealous noble ladies who were crushing on Arthur.

'The bloodshot glare that the Jostron House's young lady was giving me at the last banquet still gives me chills just remembering it.'

The reason she was the target of their jealousy was simple. To them, she was the one Arthur liked. To her, the thought of that was simply ridiculous.

'Although actually getting engaged to such a pretty boy would be the best, unfortunately, the boy in question doesn't seem to hold the slightest bit of romantic affection towards me, not even a slight crush.'

That was simply the situation, although Arthur held feelings for her, they were the kind one would have towards a younger sibling. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, others seemed to see it that Arthur fancied her and his actions of dragging her around were him declaring her as his future bride, the rumors of them being engaged only cemented this belief in their minds.

'I'm barely ten, yet I have more worries than a hundred-year-old.'

Laughing depreciatingly to herself, she shifted her thoughts to the second ceremony that was supposed to take place today.

'Arthur is supposed to have his magic blooming today, yet for some reason, the royal family only announced his birthday.'

When devils were born, their magic and energy manipulation abilities were barely 10-25% percent of what they were truly capable of.

This went on for ten years before their magic bloomed. Although it was called 'Magic' blooming, it was an occasion where they fully awakened all dormant energies they possessed and not just magic.

After all, magic was not the only energy devils used, some devil bloodlines give them the ability to use energies like Aether or ether and they fully awakened those energies alongside their magic.

It was theorized that it happened that way simply because it took ten years for a young devil's body to become strong enough to hold the enormous amount of energy they possessed, and develop the energy circuits required to manipulate that energy.

When a devil reached the age of ten, their magic bloomed and they become able to utilize their energy to the fullest.

This was also when devils gained their first pair of wings.

Their wings were useful for more than just flying, they had energy circuits embedded in them, allowing the wings to act as energy conductors, enabling smoother and faster manipulation of energy.

The stronger the devil, the more pairs of wings they had, and of course, the more the benefits of these wings. Some even had wings sturdy enough to block powerful attacks aimed at them.

As Arthur was officially ten today, it was supposed to be his magic blooming and he was supposed to gain his first pair of wings too.

It was also supposed to be announced to the attendees of the celebration, however, unlike Creuserey and Cattleya's tenth birthdays, this was not announced for Arthur.

'I remember him saying something about losing his ability to manipulate his energy, I thought he was joking as usual but it seems there was more to his statement.'

After arriving at the castle, Layla separated from her parents and made her way to the waiting room where Arthur was to be. Upon arriving there, she met someone she had never seen before.

He was a tall man, with a black tuxedo and black hair, his dark eyes seemed deeper than the night sky and they fit perfectly on his handsome angular face.

Seeing the unknown man, Layla's first thought was,

'...He's not as pretty as Arthur?'

She felt it was rude to think such about someone she just met but she couldn't help it.

'I should greet him first.'

Anyone who could be let into Arthur's private area in his tower of the castle was definitely not ordinary so she felt a polite greeting was in order. As she thought that and was about to curtsy, the man spoke up with a voice that was deeper than she expected.

"Green eyes and black hair, you're the one called Layla right?"

Surprised that he seemed to know her, Layla forgot about her greeting and couldn't help but ask.

"You know me?"

Layla was the daughter of a Grand Duke, her name and face were known in various parts of the Devildom. However, this man didn't seem to know her because of that.

"Dad! You there?"

The door burst open before the dark-haired man could reply and a familiar figure waltzed into the room. The words he spoke enlightened Layla on the identity of this man.

'Come to think of it, I'd never met his dad before. Arthur doesn't talk about him much either. I heard he's a god from Olympus.'

"Hey Layla, this's my dad."

"Call me Hades."

Hades spoke as he ruffled the hair of Arthur who just offhandedly introduced him to Layla.

"Mom's gonna get mad if you do that."

Arthur complained as he freed himself from Hades' hold before walking up to Layla and showering her with compliments.

"Oh wow! You look pretty today, more so than usual."

Layla wore a silver ball gown dress. The pearl powder, sprinkled over the hem of the dress, shimmered like a star whenever it caught the light. The dense droplet diamond, attached to the chest line, stood out.

The designer said that it was a work of satisfaction that made one praise a lot until their mouth dried, and it was worthy enough. It also went well with her dark hair.

Her hair was neatly curled up and secured with a pin adorned with pearls. She also sprinkled pearl powder on her hair.

Although she was used to such comments from Arthur, she could not help but find herself blushing slightly at his words. Recomposing herself, she replied.

"You are equally as dashing today, your highness."

That was naturally true; Arthur was dressed in a silver suit that matched him well as if they were one body. In his chest pocket was a handkerchief that had the crest of the royal family neatly embroidered on it.

"Geez I told you to stop with the honorifics, it's too stiff."

"Yes, Arthur."

Arthur then re-arranged his hair before grabbing her hand.

"Dad, mom's already in the banquet hall."

After saying that he pulled her out of the room as the duo made their way to the banquet hall, just in time for their names to be announced by the chamberlain.

[Entering! Prince Arthur Vaughn and his companion, Lady Layla Eryrth!]

Upon entering the hall, all eyes were on both of them. A few jealous gazes too but the duo simply ignored them and made their way to the centre of the hall where the other members of the royal family stood.

Arthur then gave a short birthday speech before raising his glass in the air for a toast.

"Well, this is to me, my family, you all who came to celebrate with me, and...Me again."

There was a burst of small laughter as the sound of glasses clinking resounded across the hall. Layla who was beside Arthur, heard him mutter quietly before she took her drink.

"Too bad I won't be getting it huh?"

Before she could ask what 'it' was, Arthur had already put down his glass and began to drag her to the centre of the dance floor.

"You're supposed to ask for my permission first you know?"

"Don't sweat the small stuff."

She heaved a sigh as she began dancing with him, completely forgetting about what she wanted to ask moments prior.