THEOS

They appeared in the same office Cyzicus had first teleported Luke to when he brought them into the castle. This time though, he didn’t look nearly as strained by the expenditure. If it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Luke wouldn’t have even been able to tell that he had exerted himself.

Where did the sheep go?

“Where’s Aura?” Nel asked.

Oh right. The griffin is missing too.

“I sent her and the sheep to the garden. I’m not much for formalities, but I do have enough sense not to discuss bad news in the company of livestock. Especially not in my own office.” The Emperor said, walking over to his chair and fell down heavily atop it. “Truly, home is home.” He sighed. His eyes darting to a clock on the wall, he scratched his chin and sighed. “Even so, there is much work to be done.” A ring flashed on his finger, and a streak of light shot out and escaped through the walls.

He waved his hands, and the white marble floors twisted and congealed and the room rearranged itself. His desk expanded and stretched out through the room, and sculpted marble chairs rose from the floor around it.

“Have a seat, there’s much we need to talk about.” Cyzicus said.

“Talk about what?” Rex asked, settling into the chair closest to him.

“The tournament. Things haven’t gone quite to plan, and with the Tide so close, I wish to get you all on the same page.” He said. Almost on cue, the double doors to his office were thrown open and Clite walked in. Nearly a dozen blue-robed and a couple red-robed cultivators trailing behind her.

“I thought he left?” Rose grumbled slinking into a seat, her eyes meeting Luke’s and her eyebrows raised confrontationally. “And where’s Jax? That moron left with you, didn’t he?”

“He did?” Cyzicus turned to Nel.

Luke shifted uncomfortably in his chair, the stone suddenly seeming a lot more uncomfortable than it was moments ago. A heaviness settled over the room and its occupants as each and every one of them focused on Nel.

“I killed him.” She said eventually.

“What?” Rose blurted, amidst the startled looks of the other tournament hopefuls. “Why would you do that!” She screamed, rapidly blinking the tears out of her eyes.

Rex looked away from her. “Hey. It wasn’t–”

“Rex.” Nel interrupted him, before looking Rose in the eyes. “He wanted to come with us so he could escape with his family. Unfortunately, Clan Skyscar has betrayed the throne, and laid an ambush for us. They used a blood compass–”

Luke tuned out of the conversation, merely paying attention to everyone's expression as they listened to Nel recount what had happened at the start of their journey.

“That is quite the unfortunate turn of events.” He said, his tone unnaturally even. “Clite, look into his family, and see if we can do anything to help them. At the very least, we can bring his mother and sister into the capital. Their clan will know where they are, but I can’t imagine what use such information will have. ”

Clite nodded. “It will be done.”

“Good. Don’t force anything, but once they get here, please have someone explain the events as they happened, and make sure they are minded by someone loyal. Tell them that they are being watched too. I don’t want someone fooling them into betraying us again. Keep an eye out for anyone who approaches them, especially anyone who shouldn’t know about them being here. If they don’t want to take refuge here though, then don’t insist. We already killed the woman’s son, so don’t be heavy handed.” He sighed, taking the crown off his head and scratching his scalp. His gaze darted from one person to the next. “Any other surprises I should be aware of?”

No one said anything.

“Very well. There are two things I must discuss with all of you. The first is that the Giant Tide will begin three days from now, and not in three months as was originally forecasted. A summons has been sent, and soon, all available cultivators will be arriving at the Capital to fight with them. As you are no doubt already aware, I’ll manage the teleportation altars, and with the wards surrounding all human settlements we’ll know the giants are attacking as soon as they emerge from the ground. There will be many mortals caught unaware by the sudden arrival of the tide, so there will be extra missions for those of you willing to aid them in between moments of your training. The Tide, while important and I imagine nearly all of you will be contributing to it, isn’t your main concern. That is the tournament, it will begin in five months as expected.” His ring shined on his finger as he withdrew a sheet of silver paper from it.

Mesmerizing runes shone on its metallic surface drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. Setting it down on the table, he looked across at each of them.

“It is, of course no secret, that I desire for Sylcra to win. There have been rumors circulating as to why that is the case, and in the interest of honesty, I’ll just come out and say it. There are prizes not only for the people that win, but also for the kings or,” he nodded to himself, “the emperors that send forward the candidates. While the prize the winners will take is still to be announced, the prize I shall receive has been known to me for decades. It is an Elixir. One that will allow me to break through my bottleneck, and ascend to the next tier. I don’t think I need to tell you why I desire such a thing.” He smiled sardonically.

“Did they say what the trial would be?” Rex asked.

“No. However, Lord Hephestus, this year’s Game Master, has announced some changes. Typically the tournament has two brackets, the Mortal-tier and the Warrior-tier. That will not be the case any more. Only those at the Warrior-tier will be able to compete.”

“What?” Rex stood from his seat and stared at Cyzicus in alarm. “After all of that, we can’t even compete? How can he just–”

“It is quite the change, yes. Unfortunately, Lord Hephestus claims that he doesn’t have the time for two tournaments, and as such, there will only be a single tournament for Warriors. Moreover, he doesn’t and I quote, “want to see century old wrinkles”, as such, only warrior’s under the age of eighteen will be allowed to participate.”

Nel’s face set into a frown. “I can’t participate?”

“No. As it stands, none of you are eligible.” Cyzicus said, interlocking his fingers. A tense silence raged in the room.

“Why did he change the age for warriors? It’s always been those under the age of twenty, not eighteen.” One of the red robed cultivators that had walked in with Clite complained.

“According to the missive that was sent to me, he only wants the most talented cultivators in the world claiming his prize. Those that have sat in the Warrior-tier for years longer than their more talented counterparts shouldn’t be given the advantage. As such, Agnella, Hector, Jules, all three of you are no longer eligible. I of course recognize all the work that you have put in, and as such, each of you can take one item from my vault.” Cyzicus conceded, nodding apologetically at them.

Well, that sucks for them, but it’s not like the training was useless. Being stronger is a prize in and of itself, especially if they had a Hero personally guiding their development. Getting a free treasure on top of that, it’s generous of him.

“As for the rest of you. You will have to break through to the next stage in the coming months to be eligible. I know some of you are closer than others to the peak of your tier, and that some of you were relying on your bloodlines, unique constitutions, and skills, to overcome the gap in raw attributes. It is a valid approach, but with the new information that has come to light, I’d suggest you focus on ascending to the next tier as quickly as possible.”

That might be a problem. Luke thought worriedly, for the moment filing away the information Cyzicus had let slip. With the giants and my sword and maybe some access to the sheep milk, I shouldn’t have a problem with unlocking my bloodline, but the First Stances are a whole other problem. I haven’t managed to improve them one bit since I left the tomb. I’ll talk to Cyzicus or Clite about them though. Maybe even about the Paragon’s Path.

According to the Seed, I’m not the only one who’s done it before, so it should be okay to bring it up with him. I still don’t know how valuable something like my sword is, so it’s probably a bad idea telling anyone about it. Considering the fact that Sophia went through decades of effort to get the sheep to make manamilk for essentially the same benefit my sword provides is telling. Sure they work differently, and the sheep are probably better because you don’t have to kill things to get mana, but the sword has its own advantages.

“What if we can’t make it to the Warrior-tier?” Rose asked.

“If you can’t make it, you can’t make it. I won’t punish you.” Cyzicus smiled warmly at her. “This is outside all of our expectations. All I can ask is that you try your best. If even a couple of you can make it in time, I would be satisfied. And of course, while I wish for us to win, I do understand that you will be competing against opponents just as, if not more, talented than you. While I will be disappointed, I’m not unreasonable.” He said, getting up from his seat. “Clite, I’ll leave them in your care once again.”

“As you will, My Lord.” She lowered her head.

He grinned. “Always so formal. We’ve known eachother centuries, I really thought we would be beyond such things decades ago.” He patted Luke on the shoulder nodded to Rex and Nel, before walking out of the room.

… Was he checking how much mana I have? Luke thought, having felt the faintest ripple in his own mana.

“I’ll be going as well.” Nel said.

Sharing a glance, the two other warrior’s shrugged and followed after her.

“So where have you two been all month?” Rose turned them.

“We were on a mission for Gramps.”

“I guessed that much. Where did you go? Was it worth Jax’s life?” She whispered.

“There’s another Hero fighting against the Rebel now.” Rex said.

Yeah. Another Hero, who he was already planning on marrying. Luke frowned. The ‘mission’ probably wasn’t even about getting Sophia to help. I’ve seen those talismans they use. And he can teleport wherever he wants. The only reason he wouldn’t ask Sophia herself would be if delivering the letter wasn’t the main concern.

Nel, Lukeus, and Rex. Those were supposed to be the three who went on the mission, and all three are his grandchildren.

Sophia just happened to imprison us in her super secure facility, with ten sheep, and all the training equipment and stuff we could ever want, and enough manamilk to make our time there worth it.

That son of a bitch– He was just trying to keep his family safe by making them keep a low profile at his girlfriend's house. Hell, he even did it in a way they wouldn’t oppose. All of them thought they were doing something important, and went along with it.

And Jax? He just died because no one knew the actual stakes.

He glanced between Rex and the crying Rose. Wondering if Rex had even realized what exactly had happened. At how meaningless his death had actually been.

That’s not true. If Cyzicus actually brings his family to the Capital and does keep them safe, then… Even then, it's not worth it. A kid died. Miserably and without hope. Just because we were all acting on incomplete information.

“That’s enough sitting around. If any of you are to become warriors within the next five months, then we can’t afford to slack.” Said Clite, her eyes meeting Luke’s with a knowing glint.