Raging Tide

The 'Forbidden Archive' is a place known to very little, containing secrets known only to Rexcarius and naturally he had taken measures to decode each document, a bothersome revelation to Eleanor who even with the document in hand could not decipher the code. Irritated she opened the false wall revealing the passage leading to the Graveyard where she happened to come upon Charles Ironblade and Lorelei Vasileia. She kept hidden by the door of the Cebunilla Cathedral listening intently to the exchange of the two.

"Charles, you're smarter than this. What have you possibly gain from siding with that megalomaniac?"

Charles was wearing civilian clothing this night and his toned body shone under the moonlight, even more fascinating was that passionate glint in his eyes when asked about his intentions. Lorelei backed away unfamiliar with this alien expression from her old friend.

Charles smirked at how shaken his old rival was and walked around the graves. A closer inspection would reveal the name of "Charlere Ironblade" with an engraving in the stone of "Here lies the noble general who offered his life for peace"

"In the context of status that would be true, certainly I cannot go any further than the General of the Cebunilla army…but the thing is Lorelei, I don't want status…I want respect!" Charles now looked at his father's tombstone with visible annoyance.

"Is that it? You want to be respeceted? You already are! Anything else you do would only ruin your reputation"

Charles diverted his gaze to the woman wearing the red and gold robe with the medallion connecting it of a two staves and an orb, this was the Royal Head Magus' vestments, something Lorelei wore day in and day out.

"What reputation?! What respect?! You mean his?!" Charles looked back at the gravestone and kicked dirt on it. Lorelei exclaimed at the disrespect given to one of their country's greatest hero.

"Do not trample on your own father's grave…no, don't trample on the Mighty Ironblade's grave!"

As if confirming his argument Charles laughed riotously. "THE MIGHTY IRONBLADE, the man whose legacy would never be forgotten…the man whose shadow I will never grow out of… OLD MAN YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD! DO YOU HEAR ME! YOU'RE DEAD SO LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Lorelei looked at Charles with concern. "Charles…so its about that…" Seeing her patronizing gaze Charles clicked his tongue, his irritation now aimed towards Lorelei.

"Don't talk like you know! We're not the same! You're the Vaslieia right?! You're proud of it! You flaunt your heritage as if its yours, as if the place you have in this court has anything to do with you. Open your eyes Lorelei! We do not belong here! I don't need Corpial, Tidelode, or even fucking Hasterdon to remind me"

"Charles you have to let go of these insecurities! If not for Cebunilla then at least for Gabriel. Eleanor will bring upon the fall of our home!" Lorelei still believed she could bring Charles around his madness but Charles only gnarled at all of Lorelei's pleadings.

"You really are blind. Look around you Lorelei, parts of the country is is still in ashes, in the square people are cleaning up the remains of the man who once controlled the armed men of Cebunilla, and even in the castle, are people about to betray Rexcarius, and who is in his side? A commoner and his children? Cebunilla had been falling the moment Rexcarius decided he wanted peace and now the effects of it are being seen.

"What exactly are you trying to say?!" Lorelei was becoming more agitated, not just because of what the stout man was saying but because it was true. She looked intensely at him and in his chagrin scowl saw something dark and frightening.

She gave a sudden start upon realizing what this meant and Charles' lips curled up to a chilling grin, like the image of a hyena sniggering while it circled its prey. "Charles you…can't be…"

Charles moved one step closer to her, Lorelei shriveled back. "Y-you can't! People will die!". He simply shrugged off her exclamations and walked to steps closer now. "Peasants die all the time, but for those who don't" He laughed aloud, "Glory and gold is to be won!"

"You are orchestrating a war! This is treason!" She then stepped back and started chanting and the winds blew greatly and the earth stirred, when all was said and done, Lorelei the Royal Head Magus, the strongest magician in the kingdom succeeded only by Rexcarius and Lacquer himself. However, in close range she was in the palm of the combat specialist's hands. The outcome of this battle was clear to Lorelei, like the hundreds of duels they had…Charles would win. Before the she could reach halfway of her spell, with a swish of the wind Charles was in close range to her and without touching her or uttering a spell he moved his hands to her neck and Lorelei gasped for air, Charles is a combat specialist, he relied on his fists and his pure magic power to defeat his enemy, Rexcarius uses his exuding mana as a force field but Charles learned a way to use it as a weapon, to concentrate his mana and to make it into whatever he can imagine, whether a weapon, or even an extension of his hand.

He was not gifted with an offensive magic affinity, he was born with a supporter's magic spell one that would have made him a top tier healer and support magician due to his good amount of mana but Charles was never the passive type, he wanted greater than anyone to be on the frontline, he had his father's courage but sadly also his greed, and hidden in the shadow of one of the great Cebunilla revolutionaries only made his darkness greater.

Before Lorelei lost consciousness Charles eased his grasp and the pale lady fell on his burly arms. "I'll forgive this impotence just once but you will never act against me again understood? No, you will do the opposite, if not for Cebunilla…then at least for Candice…" The helpless woman could only cry as she laid on her enemy's arms, completely at his mercy. Charles stroked her head and sniffed her hair which made every fiber of her being disgusted, and this in turn only turned to despair.

There was the image that imprinted on Eleanor's mind, that sick man caressing helpless patriot, she had to resist the great urge to step in and slay her coconspirator in cold blood and from pure desire to protect her enemy but she could not, as much as he was a danger to everyone including herself, she could not cast out her strongest and most dedicated ally in this power struggle. She only hid there secretly despising the man she was to rule the kingdom with.

Spade Escroc, why is it that all my failures always lead to you? Firstly, the survival of the princess Zyderine, she had great amounts of poison in her system, I was almost certain that she would die…but why didn't she? It didn't matter how many healers came to her, the poison was not a wound to heal nor a curse to remove, it was a simple but effective illness that could only be cured by either removing the poison from her system or giving her resistance to the poison, both of which were impossible in the current state, but that damned Escroc managed to get himself a detox…I could believe it when that slimy Shadow sold this to the recovering soldier but I saw it with my own eyes how the recoveries increased. Then there was the wiping out of Lacquer's good men, I should never have given the location…I just never expected Escroc to have his own men…then the unforeseen skills shown by Zyderine Valhalien, it could only have been Escroc who guided her, the one thing I do not understand and his greatest feat yet was the defeat of Lacquer, I don't believe that he died from just the double team of the Valhalien siblings and yet why did he disappear?

Before I could finish this thought, I was suddenly under attack, I felt a great force bind me from where I lay; immense magic power that I instantly recognized. Had this been anyone else I might have a chance to escape but it was only this person and perhaps another that even to my wits end I could not defeat but somehow I did not feel threatened, this man does not want me dead, if he did I would have died a long time ago and he wouldn't even have to bat an eye. Never have I felt so hopeless and curious at the same time.

He opened the door of my cabin with nonchalance and shone under the moonlight was a crown of mist hovering above his head, the symbol of the true king of Cebunilla. He pinned me to the bad with only his powerful mana and I couldn't even talk and somehow the closer he moved to me the more immense the pressure I felt. I could only imagine the effort he extends to cipher his magic enough to allow even the magic less to approach him without being overwhelmed by his pure power, and a more terrifying thought was the extent of destruction he could incur had he gone berserk.

"My own men think I have grown soft; do you think so too Perseus? I happen to come upon these thoughts myself, I mean you're still alive after all"

I just stared at him intensely, feeling that any moment I might faint from the pressure. He smiled and laid off his power enough for me to talk but not quite to get up and run away.

"Someone who can dispose of his companion without batting an eye, and furthermore allow his own children to do so is surely far from being soft. Incapable of it even"

He remained silent and looked at me with intrigue.

"You knew that fool's plan didn't you?"

He pursed his lips with a sidelong glance. "To deal with the cronies individually, and then–"I looked at him with a daring expression as if challenging him to say it. "Have Lacquer murder my children to engage my wrath so that I myself dispatch of my closest companion"

"And yet you still allowed him to do as he pleased"

"Lacquer would never kill any of my children. He can't, sometimes I think that he loves them more than I. With his power he could incapacitate them with ease and even if he didn't he would have most likely blinded them or cut off their tongues if the worst came. This is his justice, 'if a man kills another with his own hands, it is unjust to kill him too. Simply cut off all his fingers so that the corruption spread not towards his whole body.'"

"So you gave him an impossible task."

Rexcarius grinned in delight. "Yes, I thought for certain that he himself would try to kill my children and frame Lacquer, of course he would have failed because in his power he would be lucky to give any of the three a scratch. However, at once it came to me that he was the one who spread the poison in the castle, much appreciated for that by the way. It would have been an unexpected attack on his side but yet again that was not what has happened. I gave him an impossible task, one that he could adapt the vilest plan and not succeed in and yet without doing anything spectacular, he succeeded"

"And what has that to do with me?" I felt irritated at how high this brilliant man regarded that fool, it was through sheer luck I confirm, that was the only way he could have succeeded.

"I came here to give you a difficult but not impossible task. You find yourself superior to Spade Escroc? Then here is a chance to prove it. There is a coming coup de ta at my kingdom, who and where you have to figure out by yourself. The traitor has been cleared out of my castle, all that's left is to pick up all the vermin. I have high expectations for you Perseus Bloodeon, do not disappoint me"

"I am guessing that I am not to do anything spectacular as well?" He nodded.

"And you shall not be assisting me at all?" He smiled at my comprehension.

"You may begin whenever you wish"

"Wait, what do I get in return?"

"What do you desire?"

"I want Spade Escroc's best allies, the liberated slave he calls Blade and a petty thief that he calls Shadow"

Rexcarius laughed and closed the door and let me free. He made no reply but from the way he looked, I was certain he would grant me my boon. I could feel my lips then purse to a grin, Spade Escroc for the humiliation you have given me, you have made me your enemy and for my enemies, I swear to you that they will lose everything.