5 Plans

"So you want to set him up for a fight?" Aria asked, her voice drifting across Vex's room. "You do realize how ludicrous that sounds right? Unless its someone unnaturally strong like a royal or an elite noble the opponent would get squashed rather quickly."

"Thats if we pit him against someone our age," Vex replied, smiling slightly. "Koda can take on the majority of nobles and even some royals of the same age as him. However, even he cant yet bridge the learning gap of a full year. Throwing him against someone stronger than himself would be a good test to see just where his skill level lies."

The two of them were resting in Vex's room, an enormous and luxurious room situated near the top floor of the innermost tower. It was indeed very spacious, able to hold a king-sized bed, a sofa, two large bookshelves filled to the brim with scrolls and books, and a magic crystal that was so large that it even reached the rooms ceiling some 14 meters up, all while still possessing enough space to fit more then thirty people all evenly spaced apart. In contrast, a commoner could barely even afford a house the size of the room, let alone the room itself.

Vex had already laid out his plans to Aria, of whom was already beginning to question everything about it. While she indeed wanted to know Koda's level of skill and the full capacity of his magic, she didn't agree with the method. To her, it kinda felt like they were setting him up and stabbing him in the back at the same time.

"Have you thought it through completely?" Aria asked, leaning back on her brothers bed. "I already see some gaps in your plan already."

"Gaps? What gaps?"

"The magic shield." Aria gazed at Vex with dark green eyes. "Its set to detect spikes in magic and alert the Guardians once the magic level reaches a certain point. Surely you haven't missed that little detail."

"Already did," Vex responded with a wave of his hand. "I talked to the current Flame Guardian Veni and had him relay a message to the other Veni. Three days from now they are to ignore all spikes in magic in and near the Wisteria Market and go about their normal business. If anything happens then I shall personally take responsibility and pay for damages."

"And the opponent?"

"A second year at Costa Academy. He's been paid off and will hold back as much as possible. He's been warned that he himself will be eliminated if he goes too far and kills Koda. As far as I'm concerned, I've covered all my bases." Vex gave a confident smile as he watched Aria, waiting for her to refute something else.

Aria let out a sigh as she shook her head. Her brother was headstrong, often doing whatever he wanted without anyone being able to change his mind. His habit of ignoring orders from his superiors and even his own father had gotten him into trouble more times then Aria could count. Still though, she knew his heart was in the right place and that even if he was as stubborn as a mule he would always try to help those close to him. She couldn't see the end result of having Koda ambushed but she was positive that her brother had thought of a way to help both Koda and Julia in his own ways.

"Okay, fine," Aria eventually said after a minute of contemplation. "What do you need me to do? I'll help you with this plan of yours."

Vex nodded as he walked over to one of the bookshelves and pulled out a large purple book located near the middle. Flipping it open revealed that the inside was hollowed out, the inner section of the book having been cut out. Inside the space sat a small white see through crystal about the size of a nail on ones pinky finger, a crystal that briefly radiated a yellow light after being introduced to light. Pulling it out, Vex held it up for Aria to see.

"As you can see, this is a lumino crystal, a type of precious stone that can measure magic power. As I swiped it from father, I stashed it in the book so nobody would find it." Vex walked over and placed it into Aria's hand. "Try running magic through it."

Vex watched as Aria began to concentrate, her eyes fixated on the stone located in her palm. The crystal was a rare type of gem stone that could only be found in certain places of the Rift realm. It could gauge ones magic capacity depending on the color. In order from least to greatest it was green, blue, red, orange, yellow, pink, brown, white, and black. If the crystal turned orange then one could be qualified to start learning magic and potentially become a Guardian. However if one couldn't even make it to red then the hopes of making it to the Guardian Knight ranks dwindled to almost nothing.

This was the crystal they used to check qualifications at Costa. It would be the same method used during the Acceptance Cermony in one weeks time. Those that couldn't make it would immediately be sent packing.

The lumina crystal shone brightly before beginning to change colors. It shifted from one color to the next before it finally settled on pink, a color that was a full color past the passing mark into Costa. The crystal needed a tremendous amount of magic to change color once it reached orange. For Aria to reach pink was about average for a royal, but still leagues above commoners who could only hope and pray to reach orange.

"Nice," Vex said as he took the gem stone back. "It should get higher in the future when your magic control improves." He glanced at the stone and concentrated, sending his own magic into the translucent crystal. Just like before the lights flickered from color to color, though at a much faster pace then it had previously shown. After some seconds, the color finally stopped on brown, a soft brown that hung around a moment before fading.

"Huh, brilliant as always I see," Aria stated as she glanced at the stone.

"Pft, that was nothing. I bet Koda could make it white." Vex handed the crystal back to Aria before returning the book onto the shelf.

"Or maybe black. Hell, he might even break it." Tucking the stone into a pocket on her dress, Aria stood up from her seat.

"As if. Only those with magic levels equivalent to at least Legatus rank could manage to pull that off. There's only so much a beginner can do. A newbie hasn't been able to break a crystal since the 25th Legend. Nearly half a millenia ago." Vex shook his head. He refused to believe that Koda was so far ahead that he could break a lumina crystal with magic alone.

Aria stuck out her tongue. "I was just guessing what would happen. No need to take me so seriously. Also, you still haven't told me what my role is. What do I have to do with the lumina crystal? Do I just give it to Koda? Give it to Julia? I need answers dude!!"

"The word 'dude' isn't very becoming of a princess," Vex responded with a knowing look.

"Yeah well, being an idiot isn't very becoming of a prince but here we are." Aria made a face before glaring at her brother.

The two glared at each other. After half a minute passed, Vex let out a breath and looked away. Aria's glare changed into a smile at Vex's withdrawal as she once again sat back down.

"First and foremost, you have to slip that stone somewhere on Koda's body. As he knows what it is, if he gets it as a gift, he'll refuse." Ever since Vex first met the white haired youth, Koda had hated having others know what his power was. Why he hated it wasn't clear but there was no way he'd let anyone but Julia see his max power.

"Then what? Since I'm gping with you on the shopping trip, wont I get in the way? Hell, wouldn't Koda suspect something if someone comes up to him with the PRINCE of Argio and the PRINCESS by his side?"

Vex gave a sly smile. He went on to explain just what they needed to do. After they met up with each other, Vex would hand Koda and Julia a transformation medicine that would allow them to roam around without fear of being recognized. After they had wandered around the market for a bit gathering everything on a list Vex had made up, Aria would go somewhere else with Julia with excuse of looking at expensive jewelry. Once they were gone, Vex would make up a story of having to go to the bathroom. With Vex having a history of an easily upset stomach, this wasn't too odd and shouldn't raise Koda's suspicion. It was around this time that the hired second year noble stepped into play and would bump into Koda and eventually start a fight.

"Woah woah woah, let me stop you there," Aria interrupted, stopping Vex before he could finish. "Before you continue, I want to know who you hired."

"Yuno Brozana," Vex answered, a bit irritated at having gotten cut off.

"You mean the douchebag who tried to hit on me a week ago?! That guy had the nerve to touch my ass!!! He's lucky I didn't cut off his hand!!" Aria looked ready to explode as a sudden wind kicked up and swirled through the room with enough force to make everything shake.

"Aria, take a deep breath," Vex said soothingly, walking over to place a hand on her arm. "You need to relax. You don't have to talk to him at all. Koda is simply going to fight him. He could even give him a good hit in the face just for you."

The wind which had started to cause scratches on the wood and rips in the blankets began to die down before coming to a stop. Aria inhaled and exhaled before nodding her head to indicate she was fine. Vex nodded back before he explained the rest of the plan, deciding to skip over the part with Yuno involved.

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Just outside the door to Vex's room, a shape that was almost impossible to notice moved away, darting down the hall. After the shape moved around the corner, the shape disappeared and became clear.

A young man with black and bright pink eyes stopped in the middle of the hall and glanced behind him. "A plot dedicated to finding the power of someone who isn't a royal? This could be fun."

The boy made his way down the hall and into the nearest room where another youth was in, hunched over at a large desk.

"Tayuya, I have something entertaining. Wanna hear it?"