They all stare at Lyric, who has just struck his brother. Lyric looks pristine, almost like a statue. His clothes do not even have a speck of dirt on them. His white hair and eyes have no imperfections. It was hard to look at Lyric and think anything other than “Perfection.” Lyric looks to his brother.

  [Lyric: You really need to tell me when you are fighting someone strong. That is why I gave you my button. So we can avoid situations like these.]

  Lyric sighs as he burrows his face into his hands. It was hard to believe it, but this was a 15-year-old boy. Harpstein looks up at him and takes out a white button. Selene realizes something.

  *Selene: That looks like the same type of button that Ran gave me. Is it a communicator of some sort? Like the “phone” that Blake has?*

  [Harpstein: With all due respect, brother. I simply did not want you to be hurt.]

  Stating his reasoning, Lyric just gives him a stare. A stare that could only mean one thing.

  [Lyric: Are you trying to tell me this guy is stronger than me?]

  Everyone in the room went silent as Lyric approached Harpstein with his hand up again. Ready to strike, before he could, Selene and Peak appeared on both of his sides. Selen generates a fireball in her hand and launches it at Lyric, causing a giant explosion. Everyone is thrown back as Peak webs to his shirt and goes in for a dropkick.

  Clank

  The sound of metal can be heard. The smoke clears, and Lyric is standing there with no scratches or dirt on his body. Peak's legs on his chest didn’t move Lyric an inch. Peak quickly jumps back, landing near Selene.

  Azarath is looking around in a frenzy.

  [Azarath: What the hell are you guys doing!]

  Lyric sighs and looks at Selene and Peak. Blake is thinking.

  *Blake: This is not right. His intentions and actions don’t add up!*

  [Lyric: Trying to assassinate the heir to the throne. It looks like I need to discipline you two.]

  Lyric gives a deadly stare that rips the life out of everything in the room. No one dares move a muscle as Lyric picks up a few rocks from the earlier explosion. Harpstein desperately screams out.

  [Harpstein: Lyric, wait!]

  Lyric throws the rubble at the two of them.

  『The Sands of Time』

  The entire entrance of the palace is annihilated in an instant. Completely erased on the spot. The only things that are left in the place where the entrance once was are Selene and Peak, unharmed. Peak can’t move; he is too scared to move. Selene falls to her knees. Blake jumps in the way of everyone. Harpstein gets up and looks at Lyric.

  [Harpstein: Lyric… You know you can’t blow up the entrance to the castle. Why do you feel the need to show off your power like this? We have had to rebuild it three times within the last year.]

  Harpstein talks with Lyric so casually that one might forget that Lyric struck him earlier or that he completely erased thousands of pounds of concrete with a few rocks. Azarath is the first to speak.

  [Azarath: What the hell is happening?]

  That's when Blake reveals something. He turns to Lyric.

  [Blake: I am confused about one thing. I didn’t step in because I wanted to get to the bottom of this. Lyric, why is the feeling you have right now “Relief”?]

  Lyric looks down a little bit before looking forward.

  [Lyric: I just wanted to look cool in front of Harpstein's friends…]

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  Harpstein wacks Lyric on the head, but it does nothing.

  [Harpstein: I KNEW IT!]

  Lyric smiles and looks at Harpstein.

  [Lyric Anyway, Big Brother! I'm so glad you are safe!]

  Lyric jumps on Harpstein and gives him a huge hug, rubbing his face on Harpsteins cheek. The vassals look confused; they have no clue what they are looking at. Is this really the same cold person who just demonstrated his strength in the most egregious way possible? Is that really possible?

  [Harpstein: Can you get off of me now?]

  Lyric looks at him for a little while, then continues.

  [Lyric: Listen! You can’t just almost die like that! As your brother, I don’t know what I would do if you actually died!]

  Blake looks at Lyric, hugging Harpstein. A small smile goes across Blake's face.

  *Blake: I was a little worried at first, but I'm glad I trusted these eyes. I can see where Lyric is coming from. If I had a brother who almost died, I would probably be acting similarly. He is just a kid who loves his family.*

  Lyric has been hugging Harpstein for an uncomfortable amount of time at this point. The vassals all chime in with their thoughts.

  [Azarath: Is this guy really fit to lead the nation?]

  [Selene: Bastard almost killed me and is pulling shit like this?]

  [Peak: Oh! I know this! I guess you can say he's a “Family Guy”?]

  Peak's joke is just met by confused glances. Selene looks at Peak.

  [Selene: What is that supposed to be a reference?]

  Peak just gives her a stare and sighs.

  [Peak: Nevermind!]

  Lyric has a big smile on his face as he turns to everyone.

  [Lyric: Father needed time to prepare, so he told me to give you a warm welcome! As long as your Harpsteins friends, you are good with me! He should be ready to meet you now!]

  Blake grits his teeth.

  *Blake: The hell of a warm welcome was that!?!*

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  In the meeting room, there is a round table. The six vassals are seated, with a map of an unknown building in front of them. Other people at the round table are Elysia, who is there because she is concerned about Pax. Victor, who had his wounds treated, told the king everything. Sarah is here to go over strategies. Finally, Lyric stands beside King Valerian. Apocalypse is also on the table for some reason.

  [Harpstein: If I might ask Father, what is Lyric doing here? He is still a child.]

  Valerian sighs.

  [Valerian: Currently, as you are aware, Aric is in the demon continent. He has teleportation magic, but he won’t be back for at least a month. So Lyric will be taking over as my bodyguard, as he is a High Special Grade. He will also be accompanying me to next week's summit with the other nations' leaders.]

  Harpstein questions further.

  [Harpstein: You do know we have two registered Special Grades? Why not go with our other one? I am averse to this.]

  Lyric speaks up.

  [Lyric: With all due respect, big brother. I am currently the strongest human in this country. I love my father a lot; it would be my honor to accompany him-]

  The king waves his hand, and Lyric falls silent. King Valerian stares at his eldest son.

  [Valerian: You never met the other registered Special Grade, have you? He is uncontrollable. He does whatever he wants. I would be surprised if he even visited the castle within the next ten years. Finding him would prove difficult, let alone convincing him to go to a summit. Plus, he currently has a bounty of 2 billion on his head for killing multiple Aranthian officials for quote on quote, “Playing too much.”]

  Harpstein is shocked. It is true he had never heard about this other registered Special Grade. He didn’t know that he was a threat, not an ally, though. Harpstein conceded and sat back down.

  Valerian points to Sarah. Sarah takes over the conversation.

  [Sarah: So, Victor got us some intel about where Pax is! They seem to have taken him here.]

  She points to what appears to be a giant jail.

  [Sarah: The Dungeon of Terror and Starvation.]

  Everyone's face widens in disbelief. The Dungeon of Terror and Starvation. The most deadly and inhumane dungeon in the entire world. Where only the worst of the worst are sent, only people go in; no one comes out. Elysia throws a document on the table.

  [Elysia: This seems accurate. A few days before your encounter with Zane, the dungeon fell to three individuals who took complete control of the dungeon. It is safe to assume that these three are in some way working for the Aspects if they are not Aspects themselves. Currently, everyone who met them has died, so we don’t have anything on the three individuals who took down the dungeon.]

  Blake grabs the document and reads through it.

  [Blake: This is unbelievable. The most secure prison in the entire world, with some of the strongest guards. Fell in one day? What the hell?!?]

  [Selene: They have to be Aspects to take a dungeon like that in one day. If one of them did us that badly, imagine how three of them would be.]

  Everyone in the room agrees with the sentiment. Peak perks up.

  [Peak: So, so, when can I go and beat them up?] Azarath chuckles a little, which makes Peak pout.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Pax is breathing heavily. He was stuck to his underwear with his hand bound above his head. His cell is dark and cold and has water dripping from the walls. Pax thinks to himself *I am definitely underground.* Suddenly, three people walk into the room.

  A gloomy man with long, unkempt hair that is dark blue. He is skinny and has dark bags under his eyes. His clothes seem to have a dark, medieval theme to them, with them all being a blackish purple. He puts his hand on his head and looks at Pax.

  [???: What a pitiful state you are in… It makes me feel so sad and tired…]

  The second man is an extremely skinny, almost skeletal figure. His eyes are so sunken that you can’t even see them; they just look like black holes. He was wearing a ripped and tattered doctor's coat; it did not fit him because of his skinny and small stature. Pax can’t really tell where he is looking.

  [???: I… will fix you…]

  The third person to enter the room is a woman. She is tall and has a slim but muscular build. She is wearing a military uniform. She has long, icy blue hair that reaches down to her waist. Her eyes are the same icy blue and are cold and sharp; they look nearly devoid of emotion. Pax swears that she reminds him of someone he has seen before. On her military uniform is an assortment of knives, each of varying length and quality, some of them looking extremely unique. Some of them might even be artifacts with special abilities.

  [???: So? What do we do with him?]

  The three people in front of Pax introduce themselves.

  『Sadness of the Apocalypse- Tragedy, Dolor』

  『Doctor of the Apocalypse- Famine, Orion』

  『Loneliness of the Apocalypse- Solitude, Echo』