Undercurrents

During the ride back home Cain explained everything that happened inside the cave to Lily and Dominic, the fact that he was attacked by other families didn't come as a surprise to them, even when he mentioned about the death of Celestine they didn't put much thought to it, it was just another unfortunate death to them

They eventually reached the large and luxurious mansion located right in the center of the extremely massive Ashel estate. In fact to call it an estate was an understatement as it rivaled a small city. Cain parted ways with Lily and Dominic and headed straight for his room, he had a lot of plans to draft out and a lot of tests to do

Now that he had a deeper understanding of his powers, most especially from his primary bloodline, he had to slightly adjust his plans, still he wanted to get stronger faster and will always be looking for more efficient ways.

Another thing, he needed a magic spell, one that would personally suit him, since he was basically a walking super artificial intelligence, he could create a spell from scratch but he wanted an actual spell as a reference to shorten the length. Luckily, his very resourceful family had spells available so that wasn't an issue right now

"Display my primary bloodline powers" commanded Cain

[[ Affirmative ]]

[[ Iron Bloodline: Advanced Supercomputing, Black Hole, Ultrascan, Nano-Parasite, Void Manipulation, Spatial Disruption, Predator, Nanovoid Projection ]]

He stared at the display in front of him as he stroked his chin, he couldn't view them when he was a false mortal but now that he had become a Rank 1, he could view it in a more detailed fashion. He focused more on a particular power as he commanded

"Show detailed description of the nano-parasite"

[[ Affirmative ]]

[[ Nano-Parasite: Bi-product of the nanovoid contained in the bloodstream which attaches itself to the mind of the target ]]

[[ Ability: Override ]]

[[ Conditions:

1. Can only be used on those at same or lower stage.

2. Requires a command protocol to function.

3. Will only take effect when the target consumes your blood ]]

He sighed again, he had really been using his powers inefficiently, and he even had more powers to explore but still, it was limited to his rank but this wasn't the time yet. Right now he had to start his second plan, and his nano-parasite was extremely crucial to him

He stood up and walked to a drawer compartment in his room and took out a couple of glass test tubes and placed them down before commanding again

"Execute nano-parasite protocol: absolute loyalty, obedience and dependence, in the event of discovery, self destruct, name this sub protocol one"

[[ Affirmative ]]

[[ ...commencing... ]]

[[ Sub Protocol 01 Active ]]

The blood in his body wriggled a bit before stopping as he took out a small knife and cut his wrists to which he proceeded to place his deep red blood in each of the test tubes.

He opened the door of his room and stepped out into his compound which was filled with gardeners, maidservants and guards, he looked at one of the guards and spoke with a blank expression

"Go fetch Valery"

The guard nodded and quickly made haste, Cain stood there and waited, his black hair flowing freely as he stroked his beardless chin, it was time for his second plan to commence

***

Meanwhile back at the cave, only eight teenagers made it out, stamping the fact that the rest failed in their breakthroughs. Out of more than hundred teenagers, only eight came out alive which just went to show how brutal the cave of beginnings was.

Five of them belonged to Archduke families while the rest belonged to grand duke families, the other nobles saw this and didn't even bother to wait for their members because they knew their outcomes.

Surprisingly, Abigail's brother was among the three grand duke families who made it out of the cave, Abigail had already stabilised a bit from the emergency potions and pills stashed in the mageride and when she saw her brother she heaved a huge sigh of relief.

However one person was in a foul mood, Aaron Austair was anxious and worried when he noticed Celestine wasn't out yet. He couldn't keep his cool anymore as he immediately approached the Brunhild family mageride with Hilda and the other archduke families also closely following behind. They were also eager to know what happened

Abigail saw this and sighed, even though she had taken emergency potions and pills, her situation still wasn't good but at least it was much better than before and she was now sure of one thing, Celestine was definitely dead

Aaron arrived but before he could even say anything, Abigail spoke "Sir Austair, I'm sorry to say this but I'm pretty sure Celestine is dead

"Who killed her?" asked Aaron with visible anger in his tone, he knew Celestine, she was a core member of the Austair household and she was equipped with the best items available so she couldn't have died in the cave due to the tests, the only possibility was that she was killed by someone

Raymond was confused, he didn't know what happened, frankly when he saw his sister's condition he was shocked, he wanted to enquire but Aaron was already there to question her so he decided to keep quiet and also listen to what his sister had to say.

The other Archduke families were also present and waiting for her explanation, she then recounted all that happened in the cave right from when Cain killed the five teenagers to when he killed his own family member and finally her and Celestine's one sided fight with Cain.

However she tweaked the story a bit by saying Celestine sacrificed herself to help her escape from Cain's clutches, she wasn't stupid to tell an Archduke member that she abandoned his family without blinking to save her skin even though the Austairs were known for being benevolent.

The more they heard the more shocked they were about Cain's prowess, Abigail didn't hide a thing concerning his combat powers because she honestly hoped in her heart that he would die an early death. Raymond had his mouth open, Aaron nearly lost his senses due to anger, Hilda and rest were quiet, the red haired boy who was apparently a Brendel family member had cold sweat on his forehead.

Everyone had different expressions on their faces, however Ellen's smile only kept widening the more she heard, she honestly looked like a obsessed maniac at the moment, the place became quiet but the air was heavy, extremely heavy

Ellen broke the silence with seemingly no care in the world but still with a smile on her face as she spoke "Aunt Hilda, let's go"

Hilda looked at Ellen for a bit, this niece of hers always gave her, a mighty Rank 5 the creeps but she just took it as part of her strange personality

"Well, we should, we did come her because you insisted but now I see this has been extremely beneficial for the royal family" said Hilda as she stared at Aaron for a bit before she turned and left with Ellen

The rest of the Archduke families all had solemn expressions on their faces as they turned and left as only Aaron and the Brunhild family remained, he glanced at Abigail for a bit before deciding to leave as well. He had to make a report to his family

The Brunhild family left right after, Abigail herself needed extensive treatment and she also needed to tell her great grandfather the whole truth, she was quite certain that the noble families would begin making plans to keep the Ashel family in check

***

Raoina Continent being one of the major continents in Medora contained majority of the mages and has five empires namely Varmon, Eldrid, Croye, Woesten and Onhelm. Just like the Varmon empire, they also each had archduke and royal families with Onhelm being the strongest of the five empires.

These empires weren't necessarily on good terms and were always wary of each other as they've had their fair share of wars spanning over millennia, but still due to the impact on their continent which led to the reduction of resources and uncountable deaths, peace treaties were formed. However, this didn't stop them from monitoring each other behind the scenes

Vonheimer family, Eldrid Empire

An extremely beautiful and voluptuous young looking woman with flaming red hair and smooth caramel skin, wearing a red gown sat relaxedly with her eyes closed just beneath a huge tree in a very large and lush garden, enjoying the lovely and peaceful atmosphere present

She suddenly sensed something as she immediately opened her bright ruby eyes as she spoke in a very soft and smooth voice that could tempt even a priest to lust for her

"What's the matter?"

A blurry image immediately materialised as it spoke composedly in a feminine tone "master, we've just received word from our source in Varmon concerning Cain Ashel"

Immediately the woman heard this her expression became serious as she spoke

"And?"

The feminine voice stopped before it spoke again "he is much more of a problem than we thought, master"

The blurry voice then told her the information it gathered as the woman quietly listened, her expression changing from shock to slight fear.

When she heard everything she exhaled deeply as she rubbed the bridge of her nose before she spoke again in a very serious tone

"He must not be allowed to grow further, no matter the cost, my visions which began five years ago are getting worse, but...the Ashels aren't easy to deal with"

This time the blurry silhouette spoke in a slight happy tone "well master, this is where the Brunhild family comes in...by the way Lord Adolf Brunhild sends his greetings and expressed his fondness for your wine"

When the woman heard this her expression relaxed a little with a little smile as she commanded "good, well do tell him to proceed with what we discussed earlier"

She paused as she spoke again "tell him that this is of the utmost importance"

The blurry silhouette nodded as it gradually dispersed leaving the woman there alone as she raised her head and stared at the clear sky before speaking with determination

"This may be overboard, but the future I saw spells certain doom, we must rid of this calamity now before it's too late"