The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

Going as far as being able to swim within it. Which explains their high Affinity with fire. Fiona being a prime example of that. "...I wonder what your ancestors thought when choosing this place."

Damien said out of the blue, and Fiona coughed in embarrassment. Their Stronghold had less people than others, as most were eliminated through natural selection.

Which was one of their regrets in choosing this place for survival. Fiona being one of them.

"An–Anyway, lord Damien, please, this way. Allow me to lead you to meet my father." She changed the topic, and Damien nodded in response.

But the way she formed her words, could give strangers the wrong impression about them.

The two of them decreased in altitude, and flew down towards the Land of Vermillion at the center of the Stronghold, with its boisterous atmosphere.

But just as they were a hundred meters above ground, groups of red scaled winged lizards took off from below, sorounding them from all directions.

"HALT!! WHO DARES TRESPASS OVER THE DOMAIN OF THE VERMILLION KING?" The man at the lead roared out, his lance pointing threateningly at the two.

Damien watched them, and kept his silence. He appraised the level of development of this Stronghold during the past two months.

'They've already subjugated the red-scaled winged lizards that leave near the volcano. And their major forces are all proficient in fire-types.' He assessed. 'But, even then, they have yet to develop through Mana proficiency. But I don't blame them.'

Meanwhile, Fiona held on to Damien, who also held her back, and she took on her human form. "Cease your valiance, my warriors. It's only I, princess Fiona."

She said, and the people sorounding them immediately recognized her. But the man in lead was still unwillingly to let the matter be. "OUR PRINCESS HAS BEEN ON A JOURNEY FOR THE PAST TWO MONTHS. WHO ARE YOU?"

He demanded. They all knew that their princess went out with a group, and should be returning as a group as well. But now, she only had one man? A stranger in fact.

"...This is, bothersome." She said, having a sense of deja vu. First, the identity crisis at the Shade Stronghold, and now here as well? "Lord Damien, what do we do?"

She inquired. After all, without telling them where her classmates and mentor were, she could not prove herself. Even if she showed them her identity token of a princess.

"Hm? Simple, we barge in by force." Damien said, and Fiona hurriedly disagreed. "We cannot do that. They are still my people, and are just doing their job."

"Don't worry, I won't be too hard on them." Damien said, and spread out his aura, that had every one of them freeze in fear. "Descent, if you know what's good for you."

He said, forcful using his aura and killing intent to pressurize the red scaled winged lizards into descending back to the ground.

He followed after, and then gently placed Fiona on the ground. "Let's go, princess. There is no need need worry, I'll put them to... rest."

A burst of aura gushed down on the tens of guards, drowning them in so much pressure, they felt their wills give in. Then they all collapsed one by one, like a domino effect.

"..."

Fiona stood shock, gawking at how easy it was for Damien to defeat their greatest warriors. 'None of them might be above level 20, but still... how could they lose so easily against one man?'

She thought, amazed at Damien's power. But thinking about it carefully, the mother was as fast as lightning, and the father had giganomous strength. What of the son?

"Let's go, princess." He said, and she meekly nodded, leading the way into the castle.

Along the way, they disregarded the extremely shocked maids and butlers, and just walked deeper into the interior of the castle.

And as for the guards within, they were unaware of the mess that took place outside, and just thought that their princess was back from her trip. They were only surprised by the extremely handsome man accompanying her.

Soon enough, they reached the throne room, and there, they met the man dressed in lavishly crafted red armor, covered in red robes.

On his side were two guards also dressed in red plated, full plate armors. Their armors had robes on their back, signifying their status as high commanders.

Before them was a long red carpet that stretched all the way to the door. On both sides, stood ten guards each, all being the strongest within the Stronghold.

Amongst them, were spearmen, swordsmen, and even mages and wizards. All mostly clothed in red attires.

"...Father." Fiona greeted, and all the guards on the side bowed respectfully at her and Damien.

"My daughter, Fiona. I've been worried sick about you." The man, whom Fiona called father, said and stood up from his throne.

He was a middle aged man around his early thirties. His face was still relatively young, as there was no hint of beard or fatherly visage on him.

He walked down the throne, and onto the carpet, his eyes moving towards Damien with hidden scrutiny. 'What a handsome young men.' He thought to himself.

"I've always thought you'd you'd be frolicking around the teacher of yours every given second. But never did I expect you would bring... such a gentleman back home."

"Father, wait, you don't–"

"My name is Gregory Vermillion, young sir, a pleasure to meet you. And what would your name be?" He ignored her and introduced himself to Damien.

Damien did not think much of the man's greeting and just responded. He knew that Gregory Vermillion was quite the famous person.

He was amongst the top fifty most famous second generational humans. Ranking amongst the top twentyl, known as the king of strategy himself.

A cunning and ruthless man when it came to war. He was also quite the shameless one as well. So Damien was a bit careful of his antics. "My name is Damien Gray, a pleasure of mine to meet you, Vermillion King."

He said, and the moment he was done with his greeting, two blurry red flashes appeared besides him. A blade before his throat, and one aiming straight at his heart.

It was the two high commanders, who were this Stronghold's finest warriors. They moved quite fast, and were fluent with their assassination techniques.

"Sir Achilles, Sir Aeneas, please don't!!" Fiona cried out in panic, but her father added with a light smile. "Now now, let's all calm down gentleman. I am sure young master Gray has no ill intentions of paying us a visit."

He said, and the two holding Damien at bay, slowly retreated and stood behind their king. Fiona sighed in relief, and hurriedly bowed towards Damien.

"I am truly sorry about this, lord Damien." She said, panicked and nervous. But Damien casually patted her head with an expression of serenity. "It's alright. Raise your head, princess."

He did not mind. In fact, it has been quite a while since he felt offended by a human.

"...Thank you." She said, then shot her father a distasteful glare. The man slightly chuckled, and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry dear, but you can't blame me."

"Anyway, shall we all sit down for a proper conversation?" He inquired, and Damien nodded. "Splendid. Now, please follow me. Gentlemen, lead the way please."

And just like that, a disaster was avoided by a stroke of luck. Moments later, Damien, Fiona and King Gregory sat within a luxurious lounge, and were served tea by the maids.

The high commanders, sir Achilles and sir Aeneas stood guard behind him. Either than them, there was no one else within the room.

"Now, shall we start?" Gregory smiled, and began the conversation. Fiona nodded, and decided to tell Gregory about the idea of becoming an ambassador for the Shade Stronghold.

Damien had made it clear that the King's Project was only exclusive to them and the Gray House, until further notice. Hence she kept that out of her story.

"Mhm, I see. So that is what brought you here, young master Gray. But before that, dear, where are your classmates and mentors?" He inquired, now stern.

"Ah, about that, father..." And she reported everything that took place, including meeting and being saved by the Gray couple.

"Mhm, mhm. Such kind hearted monsters." He lightly responded, and Fiona reprimanded. "Father, please!!"

"Haha, my bad my bad, I do owe your parents my thanks though, young master Gray. And my apologies about the earlier scuffle. I hope you don't mind that, now do you?"

"Not at all." Damien said, then added, "I am thankful you at least did not immediately go for the kill. A wise move for the both of us. And if it were me, you'd be dead"

"Haha, that's to he expected of the child of two previously acknowledged superhumans. I wouldn't expect less." Gregory chuckled at his own remark.

"But... do tell me, why should I allow my precious daughter to do as you suggest?" He inquired, once more becoming stern.

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