3rd Pov
Inside the great palace of the Muth kingdom...at the moment, Prince Leo was protecting his sister as he saw the blood of his father spit in the air.
Falling on his knee as the rightful king of Muth received a heavy injury marking most of his upper body.
Standing in front of him was a woman with light gray hair...she was hooded and the long sword in her hand dripped in blood.
King : H-how dare you betray the kingdom ! Mia !
Shouting in rage, Mia...a lone girl who works under the unit shadow of the kingdom...it seems like Raven she had decided to go against the king...
Behind her was the viscount Zickard and the baron Falmuth...
Zickard : Well well, dear king your majesty, it seems your reign is going to end.
Smirking, the viscount turned his attention toward the side where a few traitor guards tried to subdue the prince and princess.
King : Why ! Our kingdom was finally at peace !
Zickard : You lost the will to conquer...the domination of our kingdom had weakened over the time of your rule.
King : War brought nothing but desolation !
Zickard just chuckled and ignored the king.
Zickard : Guards ! Kill the prince and take the princess as hostage ! We'll make an example of her in public later !
Licking his lips, this enraged the king as he released a fierce aura and bursted forward...he wasn't blessed in any way.
But his skill toned with experience were great...for the human standart he would reach the realm of a champion without unique skill.
But to his dismay...the foe he had to face was far too great...
Mia : Sorry, mi lord but I decided to change...
Her long sword glowing silver, this was the fruit of countless years of training inside the world of blood...a merciless part under the light of the common citizen.
Where there is no rule but survival of the fittest.
Mia : [Silver arrow].
A single quick slash which sliced the king into two...the ruler still conscious of his surroundings.
His eyes wandered around as his life flashed in front of his eyes...
the moment he was born, the moment he was deemed worthless in his family with 5 siblings...how he proved himself in a war of succession.
How his elder sister sacrificed her life to save his...how after this traumatic event he vowed himself to be stronger...
How he killed his other siblings and took the throne at the age of 31...how he met his wife, how she died of illness later...
How she gave him two angels...how he weakened the army to make the kingdom more prosperous, how random children thanked him for all his good deed...
King : (I failed...)
His eyes losing it's light, he last vision was his son...and daughter facing those traitors.
King : (Sorry, my children...at the end i was too weak.)
Zickard : Pffhahahaha ! Incredible miss Mia, you are truly worthy of being called the strongest woman of the shadow !
Mia : Whatever.
On the side, Leo witnessed all...he was holding his tears in contrast to his sister.
All this happened so quickly...the close guards of the king didn't warn them of those traitors' intrusion...they were trapped inside the castle and now...
The king had fallen.
Leo : Y-you bastard !
His magicule leaking in rage, Leo tried to march forward for revenge but he was held back by his sister, Ria.
Ria : B-brother...
Her eyes were red with tears...she was smart and with her gift of feeling one's skill...the moment Mia appeared.
She knew it was the end...she had this same feeling as when in front of Dawn or Luna, someone heavenly gifted.
Leo could only lose hope as he saw the state of the princess...it was the very first time she made such an expression.
Zickard : Well, it's the end. I am now the ruler of this nation !
Falmuth : Wait sir Zickard !
Zickard : What ?
Falmuth : There is still the prince and princess ! We should punish them for being affiliated to the former king !
Zickard : Ohoho, what a good idea.
As they spoke, Leo woke up from his thoughts and looked forward...he tightened his grip on the dull sword he had taken at the start of the invasion.
Zickard : Let's see, we should show off the head of the prince to the public and give the princess to our courageous soldier to play with.
He viciously says...those words terrorized both siblings...and so the viscount and baron continued their talk of torture.
On the side, Mia flinched when she felt a sudden burst of energy...it was strong enough to even reach and alert her.
Mia : (What was that ? This directly...lord Raven went this way...)
This couldn't be the leader of the shadow unit as Mia herself was relative to Raven when it came to raw power.
No, this new source of energy was a threat...
Zickard : We sh-
The viscount words were cut out as the entire left wall of the room was destroyed as two individuals blitzed through it.
Raven : You are annoying Arceid !
Dawn : And you're an eyesore.
The two standing, it seemed after Raven left the Arceid mansion...he had felt the burst of Dawn's awakening.
And to his surprise, the boy had caught on with him...before they could reach the castle, their round 2 started.
Raven : (What kind of power is that ? I feel like facing an entirely different person...and this isn't the Arceid secret power...)
Ria Pov
N-no way...that's sir Dawn ? He is completely different from the one I know...
The power he excludes right now rival's the shadow unit...h-how can someone of our age reach that level...
I was sure to be shocked but at the same time, the light of hope came back to me...
Leo : Ria, let's run.
Ria : Huh ?
Leo : Right now, we are just a bother for Dawn...we need to get out of here !
I was confused at first but then understood, I looked toward my late father's corpse and bit my lips.
Sorry, but i'll swear i will make a proper
Getting up, we tried to sneak out but Mia was there to catch us, parring her long sword with his weapon, my brother struggled to even move under the pressure.
Mia : This boy was your classmate right, to think such a potential existed within the academy.
Leo : You traitor has no right to talk !
Using all his strength, he tried to free open the way but all his effort was in vain.
Leo was always weak physically, his sword didn't even love an inch and I could tell Mia was holding back...
But why ? She could kill us...oh, right they still want to use us as an example...
Mia : Tch, it seems another guest has arrived.
What is she talking about ? Wait...she is here too !
3rd Pov
As Raven and Dawn went against each other for another confrontation, Dawn outspeeded his opponent.
Raven : Wh- !!!
Taking a direct punch, Raven was sent crashing into the wall...
Dawn : You're no match to the current me.
Slowly walking toward the hole, Dawn started multiple magic circles...with Snowie taking care of the magic formation and formula.
The process of execution for high ranked spells was easy now.
This was when a voice resonned in the room.
Luna : I'm here !
This halted everyone as they all looked toward the new princess...
Dawn : (Luna ? Wait, how did she arrive after me ? She should have reached the castle a long time ago...)
Zickard : My daughter ! It seems you managed to complete your task, congratulations.
Dawn : Huh ?
Turning his attention fully on Luna, Dawn noticed...her eyes were cold and empty...this was a sign of...
Dawn : Mind control ?
Raven : You are sharp.
Dawn : Wh-
Paying back the right hook, he received a moment earlier he did the same and sent Dawn away.
As crumble fell upon him, Dawn's brain was overworking as things started to piece together...
Dawn Pov
The sudden letter of Luna, something she won't do usually...coincidentally the attack a d revolution at the same time...
And now the mind control ? It can't be...they lured me out of the Arceid mansion via Luna.
Attacked Lara while I was away...and planned to eliminate all of us one by one...
And all those memories...was this all fake? Was Luna controlled all the way into befriending me? I couldn't process all this right now...
Raven : Honestly, I would have gladly killed both son and mother at the same time...but I can never let my guard down against an Arceid.
Dawn : Y-you...
Slowly getting out of the crumble, I walked up...glancing at Luna, she was an enemy now...
Raven : You don't know much but the Arceid household was always blessed with talent...us weaker people had to work hard while the Arceid were granted fast growth !
Dawn : What are you saying...
Raven : It was the same with that witch ! The founder of this damn family ! She was superior to me in every way ! We gave the same amount of effort and she gained more !
Now I realized something...this guy wasn't normal, he talked about the founder of the Arceid household as if he knew him...or her now.
Dawn : You are a saint...
Raven : Hahaha ! Yeah I am ! After I jumped on her with dozens of assassins, I finally managed to kill this witch !
So he killed her...I suspect that my ancestor was a saint too...well this doesn't matter right now...
Right now, at this very instant...i felt pure rage...my right arm made with ice started to melt as the magicule violently shook inside me.
Dawn : So if i understand clearly, you went to kill my mother because of a grudge you had with my ancestor ?
Raven : You guys would have died anyway, it was fated to happen !
3rd Pov
His hair covering his eyes...too many things were happening at the same time.
Dawn was still affected by Lara's death, now Luna, one of the people he cared for, was being controlled and used against him.
And things turned even worse with the explanation and reason as to why this guy attacked him and his mother.
The rage built up inside him kept growing and finally, a crack happened...
As a burst of magicule exploded in the room, a golden aura surrounded the last Arceid.
Raven : Tch, he broke past the first seal...
Unique skill : Heroism...the treasure of the family and sole skill of the founder.
Its power is unknown and only known by the people who had seen the founder in action...so Raven knew very well how dangerous it was.
The reason for it to be sealed under multiple seals was him too...as the skill has a sort of will of its own.
It will go down through the blood of the host until it finds a worthy host.
Raven : (It's fine, he just broke through the first seal through his rage, I can still kill him.)
His eyes sharpening, the leader of the shadow extended his dagger to form a long sword made of shadow.
Raven : Yeah, I'll kill you before another beast awakens !
Fully losing his calm and cold composure, he went ahead...disappearing the body of a saint can withstand an insane amount of pressure before breaking.
The speed he had moved just now far exceeded any burst step Dawn had made until now....yet this wasn't enough.
Dawn : (Heroism, huh...i can feel it's true form or at least the surface of it's true form...)
It almost made him chuckle despite the situation...this skill was not suited for him at all.
Yet it will save him today.
Dawn : I'll deal with you later, I want to take my time killing you.
Opening his eyes, the effect of his fusion with Snowie was still on...the multicolor aurora effect shone as Dawn dodged the incoming attack and directly disappeared going for the viscount.
If he died now, the enemy would have lost its leader...and all the troupe outside would lose their directive.
But as Dawn left Raven in the dust, multiple walls of earth formed around him...
Dawn : (Luna...)
It wasn't a problem, at his current level Luna's magic won't be enough...she could at best support the other.
Breaking through the wall without stopping, for the first time since arriving the viscount panicked.
Zickard : Kill him !
The guards posted behind him stood up and barely got the time to reach forward when Dawn was already there.
His hand reaching forward, the moment it made contact with one of the two guards...the enemy froze totally before breaking.
The temperature inside him reached absolute zero leaving nothing afterward.
Guard 2 : W-wha- !
Dawn : Shut up, you're noisy.
And the same happened for the other but the time he took to take them out was enough for Raven to come back.
Jumping on the boy, his expression morphed into rage as both crashed into the floor.
Raven's sword against Dawn's right arm...both connected as the shadow tried to push further.
They ultimately ended at the very bottom of the castle breaking through all the floor...
Raven : You...can't use Heroism don't you...
Dawn : You found out ?
Raven : What are you ? I had never seen a member of your so-called genius family use ice magic.
Both exchanged a small discussion as the solid ground was being pressured, Dawn's back was facing it as they glared at each other.
Dawn : This skill...it turns the will of it work like a simple equation...it will turn the will power and belief of the user into power.
Raven : It also gives the power to save humanity from the demon, the supreme art called holy magic.
Dawn : Unfortunately, my current will for life doesn't go the same direction as the skill wants it to be.
This skill...the principle was that the more you were willing to protect humanity, the more power you would get, a skill that separated the race.
If a goblin were to have it, then the more he would want to protect his kind, the more power he would get...
Dawn was disgusted by humans, from a skill who converted the actual will to protect humanity...it fell on the wrong hand.
But despite the lack of holy magic use, Dawn was still granted an insane physical boost.
Raven : It won't be enough, she was much stronger !
Releasing more of his power, the shadow blade started to cut through Dawn's arm...
But at the same time, the blade was getting covered in frost...
Raven : Huh ?
Dawn : Haha...hahaha !
Bursting in laughter, Dawn had finished his analysis...using the skill reader he couldn't perceive much about his opponent until now.
Because he had to fight and read at the same time but now, this discussion gave him the necessary time for it.
Dawn : (After understanding his skill, I managed to change the property of my ice to the same as his shadow...)
The power of Raven is based on shadow...an intangible power possessing excessive destructive capability.
The shadow property was odd as it was intangible yet it could still affect the material world...as if the attack came from another dimension.
This took time but now, Dawn managed to directly affect the shadow by making his ice the same property as the shadow.
Raven : What kind of power is that ? Adaptability ?
Raven witnessed first hand how dangerous this boy was...he was the current wielder of Heroism and now he had another divine blessing, in other word skill ?
Dawn : Now let's see, who will come out of this alive ? Your shadow or my frost.
Raven : You bastard...
Both glaring at each other, the frost and blade kept going against each other...a fight of stamina and endurance.
Luna Pov
Standing beside my father, I gazed at the prince trying to defend himself and his sister from the weakened attack of Miss Mia.
Why am I doing this ? I remember wanting to help that boy...but now, I feel like all this doesn't matter.
Was I always like that ? Cold, yes I just need to focus on father's order, after all I'm just a weapon...
Luna : Huh ?
Huh ? Why do these thoughts hurted me...deep inside, why ? Was this cold persona fake ? Was I in reality fond of the time I spent with him ?
I don't know...which one of me is the real me ?
Zickard : Luna, after this day you'll be removed from the Zickard family and placed under the mage order, understood.
Luna : Yes...
Suddenly, all those doubts disappeared...i felt cold, right the order is all that matters.
Falmuth : You sure got a useful tool.
Zickard : Naturally but at the end she is just a slave from a commoner's blood.
Falmuth : Heh, I'm sure she'll grow into a beautiful woman later.
I could see him licking his lips, not like it mattered to me...
My gaze lowered as I saw Miss Mia gathering mana in her long sword...this is the end.
Falmuth : What about that Arceid boy, he seemed quite scary earlier...
Zickard : It's fine, Raven is the strongest human in the kingdom, i can easily kill some demons so why bother with a brat.
As I could see the near future of this unfortunate prince, something unexpected happened...
The room was already damaged and in ruin but once again another hole was made from below...it seemed Dawn and sir Raven had finished their fight.
It was fast and again like earlier this event stopped all movement.
Miss Mia looked over not bothered by the fact that she released her guards...i guess this is just how big the gap between her and the prince is.
Anyway, coming from below, all were waiting to see the victor and surely the first to come up is...
Raven : Haha...
Sir Raven, his entire body was covered in frost...it doesn't seem he could move his arm and barely managed to walk with the remaining strength he had.
His eyes were reaching their last light...
Zickard : I knew it, good jo-
Raven : Honestly...he is even more monstrous than you...Rexes, once again I lost.
Falling down to everyone's expectation, another figure came out of the hole...my eyes widened slightly as the same boy I hung out with came up almost unscattered.
He was obviously tired panting heavily but compared to sir Raven...his right arm was just reforming...
Dawn : This idiot...(I won this just because of a dirty trick...)
3rd Pov
The only reason Dawn was the one currently standing is because when they were pressuring the other...Raven was cutting through Dawn's arm which was made with Ice.
It wasn't part of his body making it an indirect hit while Dawn was directly reaching his body...a direct attack.
If both were back in the same situation and this time they were put in equal situations...Dawn would have lost.
Dawn : Now...
His eyes wandering around the room as all were frozen, he naturally stumbled on Mia but right now...he felt exhausted.
Even with Snowie backing him, he just defeated someone who was much stronger than him along with the fact that his body isn't fully grown yet.
Fighting this girl would lead to his doom...no, right now he has to kill off the mastermind at all cost even if he dies afterward.
Dawn concluded one thing...his and Sola coming into this world brought changes.
If Zickard continues to live, then perhaps even if it's just 0.1 % chance that Falmuth never takes the throne and changes the plot forever.
Dawn has to avoid that...this is the start of the final act.
Dawn : Let's do this !
Bonus :
3rd Pov
In an era far before Dawn's arrival...the founder of the Arceid family, Rexes von Arc was standing in the middle of a flower field.
A sword in hand, contrary to the tale within the family...the founder was a woman with long black hair and purple eyes.
Rexes Arc, later granted the name of Rexes von Arc a noble and finally found the Arceid household.
Rexes : Control your power...and release it.
Muttering her eyes closed, a golden aura formed around her blade...she flashed a smile before sending a heavy slash through the air.
A violent invisible slash followed by a gust of wind went cutting a tree in half...
Satisfied, Rexes shealted her sword and was about to leave when she heard a cry coming from where the tree was cut.
Panicking a little, Rexes quickly made her way there hoping that her attack didn't injure anyone...and to her relief the tree fell just beside a kid who was now crying.
Rexes : Sorry...are you ok ?
Kneeling to help him, the kid wasn't injured but still this event must have caused a trauma in him.
Boy : Y-yes...
Muffling his cry, Rexes sighed before helping the boy get up...since he was clearly not in condition to go back alone and that there was no sign of his parents around.
She asked where he was from and decided to help him get to his home...at this time the kingdom of Muth was still a small village.
Rexes : By the way, what is your name ?
Raven : Raven...miss...
Rexes : A cool name I see.
Nodding two time, Rexes smiled as the boy blushed...in the small time they passed together,
They somehow become friends mainly due to Rexes friendly nature...the boy being in the future the one who achieved the final blow on the first Arceid was at that time simply an innocent boy.
Rexes : I'm Rexes Arc by the way, remember this name because I will become the strongest woman in the world !
Raven : ...
Rexes was a little stunt by his empty answer and just struggled it off...but unknown to her, the boy was staring at her from behind.
She was giving him a piggyback so he could only stare at the back of her head...a sense of admiration washed his soul.
This day was the beginning of a boy chasing the woman he admired but lost it all the day he fell into the wrong path.