*Huff! *Huff! *Huff!
"You're just a wild beast... *Huff *Huff *Huff, you just haven't transformed... into your true form, yet." Lodestar complained in measured breathes as he hunched over to catch his breath while Aldritch gave him two hard pats on the back to force the breathes out.
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Their fight/spar ended up taking around seven hours before they concluded it as a draw, just the result Lodestar was aiming for.
After such a long bout, he had begun to feel old injuries acting up, so they had to cease their contest for the time being. This time, Lodestar really looked forward to next time, unlike his usual self. Even though it ended as a draw, both parties knew who had actually won, and for some reason, Lodestar couldn't help but feel that the grin on Aldritch's face was directed towards him.
The match could have very much ended earlier, but Aldritch still had energy, while Lodestar, despite his exhaustion, clenched tightly to his pride as a dragon's descendant. Somehow, it seemed even the personality of their prideful ancestor was passed down through his inheritance.
Even though normally, Lodestar didn't exhibit pride so much, this fight was different, it really pushed him to his limits, something he hadn't done in a long time.
"I can't believe that even at rank 1, I'd be facing such difficulties against a rank IV, it's really an eye opener." Even though he downplayed it like that, Aldritch knew that the only reason their match turned out this way was because Lodestar was more of a magician than a fighter, the only thing aiding him in maintaining such physical capabilities were his bloodline as a dragon descendant and the little points he had in physical related stat.
Since magicians could always cover up for their lack of physical prowess by reinforcing their bodies with spiritual energy, it wasn't like they were at a certain wide disadvantage.
Lodestar was just well unidimensional with magic for the most part, and was currently not at his peak due to past issues, so it was perfectly understandable, and Aldritch didn't feel the slightest bit boisterous about his 'victory'.
While he stood beside Lodestar, waiting for him to regain himself so they could make their way in, Aldritch felt his skin crawl a little bit. Getting the unmistakable feeling that he was being watched, Aldritch turned his head towards the top of the mansion, only to find Khal sitting there with an unamused expression, pretty much the same as always.
Even though his expression suggested he didn't take seriously much of what transpired below, Aldritch knew fully well that the stoic faced man was every bit interested in sparring with him after witnessing the bout just a moment ago.
Noticing that he had been seen, Khal stood up to his feet and with his sword in hand, jumped down from the roof of the house, landing a few metres away from Aldritch, "congratulations on your successful evolution, lord."
Wearing a genuine smile on his face, Aldritch continued in steady strides towards the rest. They all gave their greetings before he went inside.
Having been abusing his new super regeneration, Aldritch was pretty much full of energy at the moment. While the ability allowed him to recover rapidly even during battle, he still needed to use quite the amount of blood to also 'actively' revitalize himself.
Even though he wasn't the first son, being the second, Argus was very ambitious, just as Lyla had stated in the past... well, not that it mattered now, since he wouldn't be able to do as he intends, even if he had his free will to that extent.
All he needed to do was take over his family, and for that to happen, he needed to wield a sufficient amount of power as not to play a weak role of a figure head. Then apart from that, two things needed to happen, two things which Lada had seen to that they were carried flawlessly.
For his strength, Lodestar found himself being the teacher for the most part, so that was taken care of. The only factor limiting Argus was his lack of sufficient talent, but he did have a good work ethic and drive, and was diligent.
Once the time came, Lada enacted her plan for the youngman's father and elder brother, the first born.
It had been going on for months, slowly, as taking control of a maid within such a noble house was easy, they weren't the important family members after all. Lada had one of her slaves, a maid of the house that was responsible for taking care of the head of the Lionheart family, periodically slip some poison in his food and other things he might ingest like water and wine.
Being a poison personally concocted by Lada herself, the effectiveness was flawless. Not only was it such a good poison, it was also one that would be undetectable if his corpse was to be examined.
On the last day of the administration, after the head of the house had already been experiencing weaknesses all over his body, the maid administered a different kind of poison, one that would show up in examinations, and was a product unique to a certain region, one that Argus's elder brother and firstborn was frequenting around that time.
Once his father dropped dead, Argus was the first to cry out and request that a thorough investigation be done. His brother was secretly happy as he would get to claim the position of family head being the successor, but even then, he was equally as vexed as his 'useless' younger brother.
Once the results returned that the head of the Lionheart house was poisoned, everyone sort to draw out the culprit. At this point where a prominent noble family's head was assassinated, as they had concluded that it had to be the case, the matter had also involved the kingdom, though they couldn't put their hands into the matter too much as the former was a prominent family.
Three days later after the family head's death, it came out that the first born of the house was the responsible for the death, and the maid was the culprit. She readily confessed to the firstborn asking her to do it, in returned, he had 'promised' her to take her as a concubine. Despite his efforts, the firstborn couldn't convince anyone otherwise. All evidences pointed back to him.
From the fact that he was actually having an affair with said maid for a couple months before then, to the fact that the poison had come from a certain region in the west, the same place he was visiting regularly due to military summons, there was no way he could prove his innocence.
For killing a noble, the punishment was straight forward and unchangeable, death!
Even though Argus was 'pained', he still stood present at the execution and watched his brother being killed as his head was chopped off alongside the maid.
"Some people within the family protested against Argus assuming the position of family head, but once he demonstrated his power, they all shut their mouths, so in the end, it all went well. To that event, I now have full control over every member of the house. They happened to all be present for the burial, so I made good use of their respective presence." She explained.
'Hahaha... some times, I can't help but feel she's even more thorough than I am.'