Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Hey. Titan."

Lucius stopped in his tracks as he heard his codename called out. When he turned around, Spider was standing next to one of the columns in the main hall. He strode up to Lucius with all the swagger in the world. Behind him were some of his men and another two of the King's Shadow commanders.

"What do you want?"

"I hear you are getting an extended mission. Years long even. I don't think you deserve it."

"That's too bad."

He attempted to turn and leave, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. At the same time, the two other commanders with Spider stepped into his path. It seemed none of them wanted out of this without getting something from the interaction. He wasn't an idiot. It was clear what they were aiming for.

"You're upset that you didn't get a chance to test my worth?"

The three commanders and the subordinates with them started to laugh. "No, no. Test you?" Spider said. "Not in the slightest. I simply don't think you're good enough for our order. So, I am going to challenge you to a fight."

"If I refuse?"

"You'll accept it, Lucius."

Another voice called out and surprised the group of people. Looking up a set of stairs they saw King Verdayl himself descending from the family's royal quarters which were on the upper floors of the palace.

"As you command, my king." He said with a deep bow while pulling himself free of Spider's grip.

The other Shadows also bowed to the king. Though Spider's face was concealed by a mask, Lucius could tell he was smirking, thinking he had won.

"Lucius."

"Sire?"

"You are not to hold back. Is that understood? Show them why I gave you that mask."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lucius stood and walked to the private coliseum that the royal family maintained. It was for battles for their personal viewing as well as events for any guests they hosted. Occasionally the battles would include warriors against beasts, professional gladiators, or even high-level training sessions amongst the palace's strongest knights.

Today though, it would host a fight between two commanders within the King's Shadow. It was not something that occurred frequently. Barring a few exceptions, members of the order made it a point to not be showoffs too frequently. It defeated the purpose of their organization.

However, this would be a private match. Only the royal family was observing, alongside a number of the King's Shadow currently within the palace.

When Lucius was ready, he stepped into the center ring and drew his weapon, a simple machete that was purchased for him by Rena several years ago in Lelvern. Spider stood opposite of him and drew a shortsword and a dagger.

His specialty was using Sword Arts and Dagger Arts simultaneously. He practiced dual-weapon fighting and used a different Art in each hand. It made him a dangerous fighter.

Lucius began to remove his cloak and then his mask. Before he could, the king called out from his seat in the stands. "Uh, Titan my boy. Please leave the mask on. And don't use your mark."

"As you wish, my liege. Though I thought you asked me not to hold back?"

"I changed my mind. I prefer not to pay for the reconstruction of my personal arena."

Spider scoffed at the conversation, thinking that this was an intimidation tactic on Lucius' part. What didn't occur to him was that the king had no benefit of playing along with such a farce. Still, he readied himself and waited for the sound of the start bell.

"[Tempestas], [Forsaken Arts]" Lucius whispered his Compatibilities under his breath and felt the two types of mana swirl around his body. He felt his muscles twitch slightly as they adapted to the influx of power.

Lucius felt the veins in his neck bulge for a moment. He opened his eyes and saw a blend of blue- and then red-light flash down his arms and along the edge of his blade. For a moment, his opponent started to look concerned. Discover more stories at m,v l'e|m-p| y r

"[Dagger Arts: Quick Strike]"

Spider vanished from where he stood and reappeared behind Lucius. Just before his blade struck the back of his neck, a small bolt of lightning zapped his hand, forcing him to recoil and retreat.

The man nursed his hand momentarily as white smoke rose gently from it. "What in the ever-loving…" He started. "No… you can't…"

Lucius looked at his opponent lazily and pointed the palm of his right hand directly at him. A mote of blue light flashed for a second in the center of his palm, then instantly transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot forward and struck Spider in the chest.

He watched as the other commander was lifted off the ground and thrown nearly fifty feet out of the combat area, stopping only thanks to the wall of the arena.

Lucius looked up into the stands and saw the gawking faces of many of the lower-ranked members of his order. He locked eyes with King Verdayl. "Your majesty. I trust that my performance was satisfactory?"

The tiger beastman looked down at him with a massive grin on his face. "Yes, Titan. You performed admirably."

He gave a deep bow and left the arena, deactivating his Arts and Magic. Somehow, he was thinking the fight was going to be more impressive than that. Though, Spider was only an Intermediate Rank, so it made sense it was easy. Still, Lucius was hoping that the man had some bite to his bark.

"Titan…" Spider coughed. "What the hell was that? You didn't… call out a spell."

He paused for a moment, debating on how to answer. "That's classified Spider. Maybe I'll tell you next time you beat me. Or, maybe you should do some research and find out yourself. I'm sure someone can tell you why you got your ass kicked."

Taunting his opponents was not normally his style, but Kalliope had rubbed off on him over the years, though he would never, ever admit that to her.

Spider continued to call out to him several more times, but Lucius simply ignored him. After all, he had a few errands to run before heading out on his next mission.