14 Breakthrough

In the real world, Cain's body was still, his eyes were closed, just barely two minutes had passed since he began his trials, he honestly looked as if he was dead however it was part of the process. Lily and Dominic still acted as bodyguards and stared at the rest of the families like hungry lions

Aaron however couldn't be bothered by all this as he looked at Abigail intensely, she felt his stare and turned to face him albeit with much pain before he spoke as all his playfulness vanished to be replaced by an extremely serious expression

"Did you see a girl with brown hair and freckles on her face inside the cave?"

Hilda however shot him a glance but when she realised how serious he was she kept quiet, she may be a little arrogant but she wasn't stupid. No matter how ordinary Aaron looked, he was a member of an Archduke family but most of all he was a Rank 5 BloodMage.

Abigail however had a pale face, she still struggled to speak, she still had to go home immediately but before she could speak, the man with the green hair holding her beat her to the punch

"Please Sir Austair, my step cousin needs immediate treatment"

Aaron looked at him, he wasn't as unreasonable as Hilda and he could clearly see her condition, but still he had to know if his niece was alright so he asked again

"I hear you, I won't take much of her time, she also doesn't need to speak, just a nod for a yes and a shake of the head for a no will be adequate"

The man thought about it for a while but Abigail gave him a slight nudge so he accepted with slight difficulty

"That will be much appreciated"

Aaron looked at Abigail and asked again "So, just respond with a nod or a shake of the head, did you see a girl with freckles and brown hair?"

Abigail weakly nodded her head as Aaron was a little relieved then he asked one more time

"Is she alive?"

This time Abigail paused for a bit, frankly she couldn't say for certain if Celestine was alive because she escaped but when she thought about Cain's character, she shivered a bit but still at the end of the day, she really did not know, even if she was almost certain that Celestine was dead so she could only answer

"I...don't....know" she said as she struggled to squeeze those words from her mouth before she coughed another mouthful of blood. The green haired man saw this and panicked, Aaron however had a complicated expression while Hilda was indifferent.

Aaron looked at her for a while and sighed "you can take her back to your mageride, she needs immediate treatment after all"

The green haired man heaved a huge sigh of relief as he grabbed Abigail and was about to leave but Hilda stopped them, however before she spoke Aaron cut her short

"Just let them be, we can ask Cain Ashel over there once he's done with his breakthrough"

Hilda shot him a cold gaze before snorting "and what if he doesn't survive? what then?"

Aaron however remained silent, Hilda was right he did not know if the five year old Cain could survive his trials but still when he saw Abigail his heart tightened, he knew if she was delayed any longer she would die and he didn't want that, this was the reason for his complicated expression.

He then sighed but before he could speak again, he felt that the air became heavier, Hilda and the green haired man also felt this as they all turned to see what the issue was, they immediately saw that the expressions of some of the noble families were extremely serious with their killing intents rising continuously as they stared at three people

Aaron and Hilda immediately knew what was happening, for them to be this serious only meant one thing, that Cain must have passed his trials, so they stared at the Lily and Dominic before shifting their gaze to Cain and their assumptions proved them right

Meanwhile, Cain's eyes were still closed but his body that had stopped absorbing energy began to absorb once more and send to his mind, this time at a faster speed and in lower quantities, however the quality was extremely high, a very pure kind of energy continuously absorbed

Lily and Dominic relaxed a bit once they realised he had overcome the most dangerous part, honestly they trusted him to pass the test, especially Dominic since he taught him personally so they weren't too surprised but the nerves and what ifs still got to them

The absorption eventually stopped as Cain opened his eyes, his mind became extremely light, he felt things he couldn't feel before, it was like the world was communicating and congratulating him for taking the first step into power

His body felt lighter, his understanding of both his bloodlines within him became deeper, his thought process accelerated. He had officially stepped on the path to power, on this day he officially became a Rank 1 BloodMage

'My second trial was extremely dangerous, too dangerous but....that feeling of power I felt, that freedom'

He sighed in his heart 'I long for that which is so far and high but like that very popular old adage back on earth goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and today I have taken that step, now...'

He looked and checked his body before smiling bitterly 'I've truly been a brute, I didn't even understand the power I held and just used it aimlessly'

He thought again 'as for my 'system', now I finally understand that intricate connection I've been feeling ever since, we were never separate, the 'system' is me and I am the 'system', we are one and the same'

'And for my unnamed bloodline, from this day forth shall be called Iron, a reminder to myself of how I came to be and a fitting name considering its origins'

He paused and looked around, all the noble families giving him death stares as he was being shielded by his two family members.

He stared them in the eye and smirked while shaking his head, the nobles all saw this and were first angry before staring at him one more time and retracting their killing intents.

Cain saw this and wasn't surprised, although he knew these nobles wanted to get rid of him, they couldn't, because not only was he protected by his two family members, he had a powerful background. His father was an almighty entity in the 8th Rank and his mother in the late stage of the 7th Rank.

With a sigh, he laughed at himself, he still had to depend on the protection of his family. He wasn't so stupid to disregard the protection and safety they offered him, afterall he knew himself, in the grand scheme of things he was still an ant, he wasn't going to let arrogance cloud his judgement.

Still he thought to himself with an evil grin on his face 'But, I must not put all my hopes on them, and besides I still need my family members for my future plans, afterall I just discovered they could help in purifying my secondary bloodline. No way I am letting my gold mine and my path to power go'

'I guess my second plan will have to be brought forward much sooner'

He snapped out of his thoughts as he walked towards Lily and spoke in a calm and relaxed manner

"Big sister, we can leave, no need to wait for the other kids from the family since they're all dead"

Lily looked at him and nodded not even bothered by the news, she also wanted to know what happened in the cave but this wasn't the time to ask him. The three of them began to make their way towards their mageride but then Aaron and Hilda flew towards them and stopped just in front

Dominic's energy immediately spiked as Lily released an immense amount of bloodlust so dense that it made Cain unable to breathe for a while. Lily noticed this and stopped but she still stared at them malevolently

Aaron and Hilda became uncomfortable but Aaron still steadied himself and spoke

"We're not here to fight, I just want to ask Cain over there some qu-"

Before he could finish Lily interjected "And what gives you the audacity to think you can question a member of the Ashel household"

Aaron became quiet, she was right, he didn't have the authority to question Cain but he needed to know exactly what happened to his niece. Hilda however wasn't as patient

"Lily Ashel, it is just a question, we all need to know what happened"

Lily then turned and looked at Hilda in disgust before speaking "I would advise you shut your mouth Hilda, in the first place no member of the royal family is in there and secondly, if you're looking for a quick death, keep talking"

Hilda's face scrunched but even she couldn't do anything, although they were both Rank 5 BloodMages, she was in the middle stage while Lily was in the peak stage. The difference in strength was too much and besides, Lily was a walking calamity

Lily then continued "If you want to know more, you can wait for your members to arrive or ask the little girl that appeared earlier. I don't care how you want to do it, but if any of you dares try to speak or stop me one more time..."

She paused as her energy spiked to terrifying levels, almost bordering on the sixth rank, her bloodlust and killing intent encompassing the whole area as she scanned everyone there before speaking coldly "I will make sure you wish you were dead"

Everyone's faces paled, they were totally wrong, she wasn't just at the peak stage, she was almost at the sixth rank. Any lingering thoughts of interfering vanished and was buried deep in their hearts, even Hilda had a tinge of fear on her face as she clenched her fists and Aaron could only swallow his words.

Cain however saw this and shook his head, he wasn't targeted by Lily so he was alright, nevertheless Dominic still had to shield him from the stray energy that approached him

He thought to himself 'as always, those with power do and say whatever they want and the weak can only swallow whatever emotion they have in their hearts because they know that their life isn't in their hands'

He looked at Abigail for a bit who was a bit far away as she was making her way towards her family mageride before he looked at Latifa and the rest. His eyes rested a bit more on Ellen whose face was pale as she stared at him, as he looked at her eyes he thought of something before retracting his gaze

Lily then walked with Dominic and Cain in slow but steady footsteps with no one daring to stop their advance till they reached their mageride before eventually leaving the area

Everyone watched as they left with different emotions, there was nothing they could do, they just had to report to their families, that a monster has appeared in the Ashel Family.

Ellen however kept looking at the the trio till they left, and even though her face was pale due to the intense energy from Lily she still had an eerie smile on her face before she chuckled and spoke lightly

"Interesting, Cain, very interesting indeed"