Chapter 73: A glimpse of my strength

While the others stepped into the teleportation platform, Lucien and Alucard remained unmoving. While Lucien just didn't fancy anyone looking down on him, Alucard was more interested in the power of the nightmare demon Lucien revealed. It is said that the magic beasts are the favored ones of nature and for that reason, their magic is purer and more powerful than that of humans and beast-men. To think that Lucien would still maintain the purity of the power! This is something he never expected.

"I guess I was wrong… You are something special! As expected of a grade one artifact" Alucard said as the intense aura around him vanished almost instantly.

Seeing his enemy has powered down, Lucien released his power as well and turned around without bothering to respond, walking towards the teleportation platform. Climbing the teleportation platform with Alucard, both of them were teleported to somewhere new.

Xiu!

Lucien found himself in front of the northern gate, where he was met with a small company of red armored knights from both the beast-man race and the human race. They were speaking with Instructor Emma but Lucien was too far to hear but he didn't even bother trying.

"Wow…" Lucien muttered as he gazed at the mighty northern walls which were as tall as a magic tower with many magical symbols inscribed on them. This made him wonder how Blink and Clovis with the other ten invaders were able to completely obliterate the western walls just to invade the empire. He began reevaluating their strength but then a thought struck his mind.

'It wasn't that they were that overpowered… Their main strength came from their weapons which they claimed belongs to their masters…. What if their masters return to get revenge for them and the other ten I killed?' Lucien lampooned in his mind.

"Hey… How about joining the Vladimir family?" Alucard said while patting Lucien's shoulder, forcing him to flinch.

He turned to meet Alcuard's cold and detached eyes void of any emotions and his voice is the only way through which Lucien could tell what this youth is feeling.

"Why? Just a moment ago you wanted to rip my head off" Lucien didn't reject outrightly since he found Alucard's personality intriguing.

"Well, that was until you showed me the power of the nightmare demon… If you showed me any other magic beast's power we probably would have been tearing each other apart by now" Alucard answered truthfully with a nod.

Listening to him speak Lucien couldn't help but feel astonished by the guy's honesty, he found it refreshing…

"So what is so special about the nightmare demon?" Lucien found the conversation interesting so he had no reason to stop now.

"It is not the nightmare demon that I find interesting… It is you and whatever sealed artifact gave you this power… To be able to keep nature's blessing with the magic… This means your shadow magic is purer than anything my family possesses" Alucard said with so much passion, Lucien began thinking this youth has a split personality disorder.

"And that's why you want me to join? A beast-man joining a human family doesn't say good things about your family, especially one who many believe will bring about the destruction of humanity in this empire" Lucien said in a low tone.

"Nonsense! Be it human or Beast-man we are all from the same empire… I don't know what many may think but the Vladimir family believes in the emperor's dream… An empire where both humans and beast-men can live in peace…. So if you have the qualifications to join my family, I see no reason for us to push you away because of your race" Alucard said with a stern look on his face.

Lucien could feel the sincerity in Alucard's voice that he almost agreed to join instantly, but he managed to suppress his emotions enough to give a response greater than what he has given anyone.

"I will think about it…" Lucien muttered.

"I APOLOGIZE BUT I CAN'T LET YOU TAKE A KID WITH YOU!" 

Alucard was about to respond but then he was interrupted with the words of one of the red knights. The man shoved instructor Emma aside while he approached Lucien with malicious intentions in his eyes. As a human at a reasonable position in power, he finally got the opportunity to look down on a beast-man so he wasn't going to let this opportunity slide.

"Hey, kid… Get back on that platform and leave… Now!" He growled upon reaching Lucien but to his greatest surprise, Lucien didn't move.

Judging based on the black feather on the helmet of his armor, Lucien could tell this person was the captain of this little squad. Apart from Instructor Emma, he was sure this man was oblivious of the identity of everyone present in Instructor Emma's squad, he probably thought they are all simple.

[Name: Charles Homes]

[Race: Human]

[Role: Fighter]

[Realm: 5th sky of the warrior realm]

[Current Emotions]

[Proud]

[Happy]

[A bit wary of Everyone in your group]

[Spiteful]

[Disgusted]

"I am Lucien… A former heir to the Raizen clan…. You don't have to worry about my safety" Lucien replied calmly and tried to walk past the man but to his greatest surprise, the red guard captain unsheathed broadsword and used it to block Lucien's way. 

Originally he was scared that Lucien may be from one of the top beast-men clans but realizing Lucien's identity he found no reason to hold back. Not only is the youth a beast-man whom he hates so much, but he is also a beast-man without any backing! He can deal with Lucien any way he pleases and no one will lay a finger on him. At most he will be scolded for his actions.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY PUNK?" The man growled with veins visible around his neck.

Instructor Emma wanted to step in but seeing the expression on Lucien's face, it was like he was asking her not to. Also, Lucien noticed that the other three members of their team had no intentions of stepping in. Not because they hated him but simply because they saw this as an opportunity to see what he is really like. Meanwhile, the captain of the red guard misread these signs of thought his fellow humans are on his side and that's why they turned a blind eye to his actions.

"Charles Homes… For a fighter at the 5th sky of the warrior realm, you are quite noisy" Lucien's eyes let out an orange light

BOOM!

Charles was too shocked by the fact that Lucien knew too much about him that he failed to react on time and could only watch Lucien's fist strike his armor! Metal bending sounds could be heard as the Charles was sent flying meters back from a casual blow from Lucien!

"Captain!" another red guard mage roared as he summoned a ball of fire and shot it towards Lucien.

[Fiery death skill activated]

"Weak!" Lucien's voice deepened as the image of the hell hound appeared over him and his hands were engulfed with fire and death element!

BANG!

Not hesitating Lucien threw a punch at the fireball, shattering it effortlessly, leaving the youth stunned.

"Let me show you what a real fireball looks like" Lucien said as he yanked his eyes open and huge balls of fire began to form around his mouth.

[Fire ball skill activated!]

Lucien spat out a human-sized ball of flames, surging towards the red guard mage. Seeing the ball of flames, the mage dashed towards it boldly as he threw his fists engulfed in flames forward.

BOOM!

Everyone watched him getting knocked into the air by the flames, throwing him a few meters back, leaving an injured youth with strong burns injury.

"Impossible! Loren is at the 2nd sky of the warrior realm! How can he lose to this kid in terms of overwhelming power?" One of the red guards said in shock. 

The other red guards were about to move but they were blocked by Instructor Emma and the other members of their team.

"Me… Weak? Let me show you a glimpse of my strength" Lucien said calmly as he walked towards Charles Hommes.

Spits!

"Bastard! You keep overestimating yourself!  You must be tired of living!" Charles growled as he shot towards Lucien with his broadsword in his eyes.

His eyes lit up with power and he quickly changed his stance too abruptly as he tightened his grip on his weapon.

Martial skill: Blade dance!

Swiping his sword at Lucien, countless waves of scythe-shaped wind blades were shot at Lucien.

ROAR!

Hayai-ken; third form; Limitless wind fists!

Lucien growled like an actual beast as he threw his hands forward, releasing countless after images of fists covered in orange flames struck all the wind blades, shattering every single one of them.

"A fighter like you dares get in my way… I think it's best you vanish now" Lucien muttered calmly as the three images of the Raizen God beast, Nightmare demon, and finally the Hell hound.