At the center of the Devereaux Expanse, stretching endlessly, stood a massive structure known as the Devereaux Family Fortress, imposing in its black silhouette.
The battle between Gaia’s rays and the darkness of the fortress’s surface began the moment morning graced the horizon.
Some rays are absorbed while others infiltrate; they have very few chances of survival due to windows, which have not always remained open.
But today, a window seemed to open as a heavenly figure of beauty sat in a chair near it, writing something with a soft smile and narrowed gaze, her mind seemingly fixed on something else.
Drishti’s crystal-like amber eyes reflected several characters written on the paper, their completely unknown structure showcasing her newly found interest in learning the language of a lost civilization.
‘A bait, heh’ Sitting with her soft eyes fixed on the page, her mind was settled on something far away. She heard and saw things become a blur around a young man, but his voice was clearly provocative.
“Let’s see.” Pausing in her writing, she lifted her gaze, observing her room filled with enormous worldly treasures. Yet, among all of them, the Young Man chose her.
Had she not seen through his intentions? Of course, she had.
It was crystal clear that Young was trying to see his value, to what extent he could cross the line without falling apart.
And that was something she herself was interested in seeing: to what extent she could keep patient to finally reach the point of killing him.
Both wanted to know about Drishti Devereaux.
:: “You see, I was beaten pretty badly yesterday. Can’t I get compensation?” ::
‘Compensation for destroying a battleship, which cost me one trillion gold coins,’ she mused, her interest waning as she again immersed herself in writing.
She appreciated the young man’s bravery, which is why she offered him a choice of anything from here.
But that was it; there was nothing else in that young man that interested her, making her already prepared to retract her surveillance back—the end of her alignment towards that young man.
‘”Give him a battle, no need to hold back since I don’t think any of you are returning alive from there,”‘ she telepathically allowed both of her subjects to do whatever they wanted, completely losing her interest in the whole thing.
There was nothing in that young man who somewhat interested her.
Energy Nullification ~ Anyone above Legendary rank could erase the aura of lower ranks, and at that, an ability with a response rate of 0.0044 seconds will be nothing in front of true speed.
Sword Maiden’s Sword ~ Interesting, but that’s it. The young man can never use its true potential; it’s more like a stick in his hands.
Some hidden being inside his body can control the Heaven-Grade Artifact ~ It would have been interesting if it wasn’t for her possession of a similarly ranked artifact too.
Finally, his Kundalini ~ His soul is strong but still not enough to remain more than a minute in astral form with an Entry level of the Astral Realm.
He had somewhat of a presence of mind, which was definitely not unique; this whole world was filled with geniuses like him and was much smarter.
In Conclusion, He was an Open book to her, have nothing within him which somewhat made her feel interested.
:: “But what if, in anger, Lady Drishti, upon seeing her subject beaten, tried to kill me?” ::
‘So, you are not the only one seen through,’ she felt amused at the realization that she too had been seen through, not that it was a hidden fact about her being an enthusiastic person.
But, seeing how this was used against her, it brought a soft smile to her face.
Did those words spark her interest in knowing what the young man wanted to do behind her back?
Of course.
Did she know that the young man wanted to make her withdraw her gaze by making the whole situation look more interesting?
Absolutely.
Will she still follow his intentions, even after knowing it was a trap set by him to get back at her?
That is indeed a good question.
“Yawn, guess I am feeling sleepy again,” Parting her soft lips, understanding that she had been played with. Stretching her hands, she stood and moved towards a big king-sized bed with translucent embroidered white curtains surrounding it, letting him do whatever he wants this time.
After all, the young man had indeed succeeded in making her withdraw her gaze.
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.
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At 7.2 miles away from the Centre Fortress, inside the territory of Chandlers, stood a huge mansion befitting the status of one of the four major branch families within the Devereaux Family.
A hundred people surrounded the place, all their gazes fixed above the room where they could sense two individuals at the rank of Perfect Peak Legendary standing, while also being aware of a third individual’s presence but unable to sense him.
“Father, should we help Young Master?” Noah, noticing the two cloaked figures belonging to the men working under Lady Drishti, went inside the room where their Young Master was present.
“No need, don’t forget Lady Drishti’s announcement from yesterday,” Adrian’s gaze was fixed on that place too, recalling the announcement made by Drishti Devereaux after she defeated their Young Master.
There were three criteria for someone to be accepted in the heir battle:
– One should have to carry the Devereaux Bloodline.
– They have to be at Perfect Legendary rank or above.
– They need approval from the Head of the family to participate in the battle.
Ryuk Devereaux did not fit any of these criteria: he had lost the Devereaux Bloodline, was not at Perfect Legendary rank, and there was no permission from the Head of the family.
Of course, there were three more candidates with ranks lower than Legendary, but each one of them had a Guardian at Zenith rank or above.
Meaning, the second criteria could be nullified if someone took a guarantee that the candidate would reach Legendary Perfect rank by the end of the Flagbearer battle.
And in the absence of Lady Alisia, no one was in favor of giving their guarantee to him, directly making him unfit.
Thirdly, in the absence of the Head of the Family, his Proxy could accept any Flagbearer to rightfully take part in the battle, which was also not possible due to Alisia Devereaux’s status being depleted to that of a banished and runaway Flagbearer.
In conclusion, it would have been impossible for him to participate in the Flagbearer battle.
But then, surprisingly, Lady Drishti accepted Ryuk Devereaux as a Flagbearer and even allowed him to be provided with the Insignia.
On every human, there was a Mark of proof to show their identity as a Flagbearer, since there could be imposters in the outside world who could claim themselves as such, leading to scam people and tarnish the name of the Devereaux Family.
After all, even with the fear of the Devereaux Family, there was always someone who could use the identity of fake Flagbearers to take advantage of others.
BOOOM!
“Father! Look at that,” Noah called out, pointing towards a projectile shot out of the room where he was looking a moment ago.
Hearing his words, Adrian also lifted his gaze to look at that object, which seemed very familiar to him before it directly shot inside the building standing a mile from it.
CRUMBLE
Within a moment of collision, the whole architecture fell to the ground, making him burst out in laughter, stating, “Hahaha, it seems Chandlers will need to reconstruct their buildings soon.”
