Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Kalliope could not hide the skip in her step as they approached the gates of Fort Sella. The trip back took a bit longer than they expected because they had to skirt around a few extra miles to avoid being caught by enemy patrols.

It seemed there had been a few more skirmishes and the Alorek army had gained another two miles of land since she had set out on her task, but it looked to be extremely hard fought. It made her wonder if it was really worth it.

Sure, it was a surprise when they attacked with much stronger forces than anticipated, but compared to all the anxiety surrounding the war leading up to it, Kalliope could not help but feel that it was… underwhelming.

Over the last few weeks though, things had been pretty easy, so she was also aware that her viewpoint might be colored. The reason for that ease? Lucius.

Put simply, he was a prodigy. He was a Beginner Rank, clearly on the verge of Intermediate and he took out two Advance Rankers combining together a host of abilities. Not lonely did he possess power beyond his means, but his innate knowledge of battle seemed to make up for even more of his shortcomings.

All these thoughts made Kalliope blush to herself from a combination of attraction and embarrassment. She was embarrassed because she could not believe that she thought she could defeat him and battle. The attraction part… well as a beastman, it was natural for her to be attracted to strength. No one had made her heart skip a beat like his did.

Thinking back to him standing over his defeated enemies, lightning dancing along his body, a serene look on his face while his weapon dripped blood… it was enough to make her swoon. In all her young life no one had made her feel this way.

'I'm going to make him mine.' She thought to herself with a devilish grin. 'Mother and father's other wives taught me a few things to capture the heart of a man… I never thought I would be able to try them.'

Not realizing that her lecherous thoughts had distracted her from her surroundings, Kalliope suddenly felt as though she had ran into a wall. The impact knocked her onto her rear and she coughed at the dust that was kicked up. Standing over her was a massive being… her uncle Kalivas.

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"Girl… why are you not paying attention to your surroundings?"

"Well… you see Uncle… I…." Kalliope tried searching for words that could get her out from beneath his ire, but there were none available. "I have no excuse."

Her two allies, along with the humans chuckled gleefully at the fact that she very much looked like a little girl being chastised by her father. Only Lucius said nothing as he simply stared at Kalivas.

"Wait a minute…" Kalliope started to say as something dawned on her.

Before she could finish her sentence, Kalivas vanished from in front of her and a loud, metallic clang rang out. Lucius too, vanished from where he stood and a cloud of dust and sand was all that was visible to track where they were.

Everyone's jaws dropped in surprise, not expecting the warrior Kalivas to suddenly attack their compatriot. For everyone else it was a shock that Lucius seemed able to react fast enough to block the attack, as was evident by the sound of metal hitting together. Kalliope on the other hand, knew that Uncle was holding back so as not to kill the boy.

Strong though Lucius may be, Kalivas was strong enough to fight the strongest warriors the world had to offer. The world in which Kalivas existed was comprised of King and Empyrean Ranked warriors.

Each kingdom had one or two of each available, though they were often rather aloof individuals that did whatever they wanted. Kalivas was one of the few who actively participated in his home's affairs.

If her uncle truly wanted to fight, Lucius would be turned from a handsome young man into a fine red mist before anyone could blink. With this fact in mind, Kalliope had no idea why the warrior wanted to fight someone so far below his weight-class.

Though, they could not see anything through the artificial sand storm the two fighters seemed to have whipped up, occasional flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder revealed that the battle was intense. The intense pressure of mana pouring off the two warriors was enough to make Kalliope's skin prickle.

Were she not an ally of them, she would have long since turned tail and fled. Looking to the others, it seemed even Mia, Marie, and Renton were unaware of this level of capability from the boy.

"Mia. If I may, you seem rather shocked, were you not aware of Lucius' capabilities?"

The woman shook her head, along with Renton and Marie.

"No," she answered. "Honestly, we recruited him as a scout because we last fought beside him when he was a Novice Rank. Even then, he survived a fight with someone who should have been far stronger."

"So he's always been capable of holding his own against stronger opponents?"

"Yes, though he did so through clever tactics, ingenuity… and honestly, luck. Every battle I see him in now though, surprises me." Mia whispered.

No one could blame her, especially when faced with such an oddity.

"So, you are saying that you have not known him for long? Were you not adventurers together?" Kalliope continued.

"No, we were not. He adventured with another group, as well as a young girl he was in charge of protecting."

Mia's last statement made her ears twitch. Who was this girl? What was their relationship? Kalliope simply needed to know.

"Th-this girl… she was?"

"A friend of his I believe. Though since then, I had heard things developed… deeper than that. She was clearly head over heels, but I was not aware that the boy was capable of such feelings."

This news took a little of the wind out of Kalliope's sails, but it did not deter her. Though she may have lost the potential for first wife, her father had several. She could be second, third or fourth, it did not really matter. Lucius made both her warrior's heart and her maiden's heart skip beats, so she absolutely had to have him.

More and more mana poured over the landscape as the fight continued to rage. Alongside it, there was another oppressive energy. It was similar to when Kalivas used his mark, but it felt darker, more sinister than his.

While she was taking a moment to process this new sensation, a massive, black projectile entered her vision. Everyone dove to the ground to dodge the sudden missile, which soared over their heads before impacting with a loud crack on the fortress wall behind them.

They turned their heads to see what in the world it was that had nearly taken their heads off and saw a black-haired teenager with bruises covering his body. One of his eyes was swollen shut and it appeared that his cheekbones may have been fractured.

A small groan escaped his mouth as he somehow pulled himself free from the stone and collapsed on the ground. Through some miracle of fate, or perhaps strength of will, he managed to get off the ground and at least push himself to his hands and knees.

It seemed this was the best he could do, as his movement stopped and he began to relieve his stomach of its contents into the dirt.

Kalivas strolled up to them with a massive smile on his face. It was one of excitement and… pride? For some reason the warrior was showing a shameless expression of pride. Why?

"Excellent potential, as I expected. I knew I could expect great things from you. It is nice to finally meet you, especially after I was informed of your death." Kalivas said with boisterous laughter.

The entire situation confused everyone around, but no one was willing to pry into whatever it was that was toiling around in the great warrior's head.

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