Clan's blazon.

Each Guardian Beast grants unique powers to its master after awakening.

Chaos, darkness, and life.

The last represents hope, light, and beauty among the creator's creations.

The penultimate represents its antipode.

And Chaos, like a pile of meteors in the void, directionless.

Guardian Beasts that awaken with one of these powers are invaluable.

Although rare, those who wake these powers up among the three great clans, are quite numerous.

..

"You both, what is the most important for our Shadow's clan?"

Once alone with his two sons, the patriarch became the old authoritarian and cruel man who was alone with Mystic this morning.

Nicolas and Ameilly were like two soldiers ready to go into battle.

Their swell-up torsos, hands crossed behind their back, and their eyes which seem to house all the world's darkness.

"POWER!" Both roar together.

"Right, power is our clan's blazon!" 

At these words, he erases the distance between him and Ameilly and fiercely gazes in her eyes.

In barely two seconds, Ameilly's forehead began to ooze beads of sweat.

The same thing happened when he looked at Nicolas.

In the depths of his gaze, an incredible sight unfolded: a vertical black line intersected by a bold horizontal stroke.

As it became relevant, blood flowed from his children's noses.

At this sight, a wave of disappointment crossed his pupils.

"You are still weak to support me, much less replace me."

"..."

"..."

"You must keep it depth in your heart. To survive, to win, and to become the leader, we must be the alpha that leads the pack not a wolf among'em!"

"Yes Sir!" once more, they shout together.

After this introduction, the patriarch finally enters into the main subject that concerns him.

"Earlier, what kind of weird feeling did you both feel from that offspring?"

"...The same cursed eyes as Adams's." Ameilly responded more quickly than his brother.

"And what did you feel from Adams when he was alive?"

"…Clan's blazon...?" 

"Wrong! Adams Forett Cer Shadow, that kid's dad, showed us something different from what we know about our bloodline's power.

-Even I, his progenitor, didn't widely know his future development. But you, his brothers are different. What you seek for is not your way, but the way I traced. 

-That's why you slowly stroll like chameleons on the potency path!" 

He paused to make sure both were listening to his words.

Then he continued. "A day will come when the entire human species will begin to mutate. And when that day comes, the only thing that will differentiate us from them is our experience in this field.

But how can we be proud of this seniority if our clan follows the same path generations after generations !?

You must continually seek to evolve into different paths to create infinite possibilities in the distant future.

A future where we won't need to rest on these grimoires whose creators are unknown.

You must adapt and become a better version of me, your parent."

"Understood!"

"Good!" He nods as his eyes trace straight lines towards Nikolas.

"Nikolas, you go at the front at dawn, right?"

"Yes sir!" 

"Take the kid with you."

-!! 

The patriarch was puzzled when he saw his son stare at him with an extremely shocked expression.

He then frowns as he gets irked.

"You… Why are you reacting like that?"

At that question, Nikolas shook his head.

"…It's nothing." He said that, but just a moment ago, he clearly had a face like those who had received a shock.

"Nothing?"

As Petteiddas tried to ask again why he reacted that way, Ameilly walked ahead and said,

"Esteemed clan leader, allow me to train this kid before she… reaches twenty."

"You measly brat. No wonder you keep the last post among elders. Do you think these feelings of holiness would help you grow?" 

Ameilly grits her teeth as she stares at the patriarch in the eyes and then barks. 

"Dad! This girl is only sixteen! She is still young and full of potential! Please wait until she's at least enough...

The patriarch cuts the floor to Ameilly. 

"Don't be a fool, brat. This decision doesn't come from me, but that kid!"

The obvious annoyance in Ameilly's eyes turned into a form of doubtful shock when she heard her father say such bullshit.

The descendants of the clan are hot-blooded and have no principles except that of power.

But they also know their limits when necessary.

That's why, as one of the elders, she didn't look at Mystic's previous potential, but the one she has now.

'That child could probably become an icon in the future and bring the clan beyond the... sigh, is this old man trying to kill her while she is still young?'

She began to look for the reason that made her father so ruthless towards Mystic.

This idea ran out of her mind faster than it entered.

Her heart began to beat faster as she began to understand the reason.

'The more he appreciates a descendant, the more he transforms the one's life into hell, as was the case with many of my sisters and brothers.' 

A wave of sympathy crossed her eyes when she came to this conclusion. 

'She's so young... 

Despite the patriarch's previous revelations, her mind refused to believe that Mystic had voluntarily offered to participate in this punitive and bloody expedition. 

Besides, Nikolas observed everything with passive eyes. 

Not to mention intervening, he did not even go against the patriarch's current. 

Compassion and he swims in two different rivers. 

'You're the only one who has been able to keep your humanity, little sister, but for how long?' 

He wonders after a glance at his sister's shadowed eyes.

"Now go back to the rank and listen to my instructions." Howled the patriarch.

"Son, you'll take that child with you and let her follow her path across the battlefield's blood river."

"Roger!" 

"Treat her as you treat a fresh soldier." 

"…Understood, esteemed clan leader."

"Now leave!"

—

"What the...give me that!" 

On the ground floor, in the long corridor leading to the orphans' lodges, the exasperating screams of a girl could be heard even before reaching her room which is at the end.

Of all the residences in the manor, this residence which is dedicated to the orphans of the descendants is the most ordinary.

However, compared to the residences in the city, it will look like a palace residence.

The corridor is built so that it resembles individual cells in a penitentiary.

Every five meters, a black armored door is located there.

And behind each door, there is the room of one of those children.

The person who was screaming was none other than Mystic.

As for the person she was growling at, no one could guess.

Inside her room which seemed small from the outside, but large and very well organized from the inside, she looked at Devon with annoying eyes.

In the latter's hand, is her grimoire.

Since the last attempt ended in failure due to the presence of the patriarch, Devon immediately put his plan into action as soon as he left.

Mystic's grimoire was now in his possession.

Although he has only one intention, to prevent her from sending him back as she pleases, making her understand is another story.

How to make her understand this fact when they are unable to communicate?

After a while, Mystic finally stopped running after him, fed up by his stubbornness.

"You piece of shit! Give me that!" 

She reaches out and orders!

But, her face darkened seeing Devon cross his arms and arrogantly lift his head up at her. 

His pose and eyes seem to say: Why I must obey you, dumbed brat!?

That's what she understood from her guardian beast's behavior.

At that sight, a jerky smile curled up her lips' edge as her frontal nerves swelled as well.

"…Okay, you won!" 

As she said these words, she drew over her black sword from its sheath and stared at Devon like her sworn enemy. 

"These bad habits, I'll remedy all of them straight now!"