CHAPTER 199: CHAPTER 199: SCARLET WARBORN

Chapter 199 – Scarlet Warborn

The dust cleared, revealing Meris enveloped by a melting wall of ice. She stared at her mother expressionlessly, then with a single thought the floor shifted beneath her feet, turning into snow, lowering the friction considerably.

She kicked against the snow-covered ground, sliding to the right as another bolt of lightning hissed down from above, barely missing her. She then shot forward briskly, water molecules gathering around her before transforming into dozens of droplets. She compressed their pressure until the very air seemed to fold around them, then fired them straight at her mother.

They tore through the air as they raced forward, leaving ripples in space behind.

Mayari smiled, raising her finger, about to burn the droplets into vapor but at that moment, the water burst outward in an explosion, releasing an avalanche of dense liquid that drenched her body and subtly slowed her movements.

"Freeze."

Meris’s cold voice echoed as she appeared behind her mother, an ice spear gleaming in her hand, its tip sharp enough to glisten beneath the sky.

She thrust without hesitation at her mother’s lower back, while the water on Mayari’s body began to harden into frost.

Mayari stepped back, but the ground had already turned to snow, and she slipped, nearly falling. Even disoriented, she conjured a barrier of purple lightning, the air cracking as the spear struck against it with a sharp, resounding clang.

Mayari regained her footing, her right leg slamming against the snow before she spun with merciless precision, delivering a brutal 180-degree kick toward her daughter’s ribs.

Meris didn’t falter. The spear in her hand shifted instantly into fluffy snow, wrapping around her ribs to dull the impact.

But Mayari’s leg had already been cloaked in serpents of purple lightning. The snow vaporized in an instant, and the sound of bone breaking split the air as Meris was hurled backward. The breath was torn from her lungs, her body whipping through the air, raising a whirlwind before she slammed into the ground a hundred meters away.

She coughed violently, her heart hammering against her chest as though trying to escape. She tried to rise, but agony lanced through her ribs, forcing her back down. Yet she bit into her lip, blood trickling as she forced herself up anyway.

Mayari watched with a faint smile.

"Not bad, daughter," she said, her voice carrying acknowledgment.

Meris glared coldly at her mother. Dozens of ice spears formed around her, their tips as sharp as shark’s teeth, all pointed menacingly toward Mayari.

A pair of ice daggers appeared in her hands, water coiling around them like hungry serpents. Snow gathered at her feet, making her movements smoother, sharper, faster.

Mayari smirked. "Your control has definitely improved," she said as her body became shrouded in purple lightning. "Come. At this rate, you won’t be returning to Fokay anytime soon." Her voice carried mocking weight.

"We’ll see about that," Meris replied coldly.

A tidal wave of water swelled around her. Her fingers curled so tight the knuckles paled. This time, instead of raising the density, she lowered it so far that the entire training ground was suddenly swallowed in mist.

The moment the mist thickened, Meris launched her spears and surged forward like a storm given flesh, frost hissing beneath her feet.

Normally, none of this would have troubled Mayari. But she had lowered her power, her perception, everything...bringing herself down to Meris’s level, for fairness.

That was why she didn’t immediately sense her daughter’s blade about to slash her throat.

She ducked back just in time, but the slippery ground betrayed her, sending her stumbling.

Above, the spears rained down like ice-born arrows. In Meris’s hands, the daggers shifted, becoming ice gauntlets. She drove her fist toward Mayari’s face, like a blacksmith swinging his hammer, with all her weight, all her momentum.

Soft blue light enveloped the gauntlets just before impact.

Mayari smirked, unbothered. "An intent, hm? Truly not bad."

And then the sky split open.

A sea of purple lightning exploded outward like a tidal wave, crashing down and engulfing both mother and daughter. The ground shook under the resounding detonation as a storm of dust, lightning, frost, and snow rose high into the heavens.

When it finally cleared, Meris lay on her back, her body scorched with burns, sparks of lightning still sizzling along her skin.

Her breathing came ragged, shallow, sporadic.

"You look ready to go back," Mayari said calmly, standing over her, her body pristine, untouched.

Meris sighed, her expression softening. "Mother...you said you’d go easy." Her voice cracked with complaint, her eyes carrying a hurt glare.

Mayari shrugged, utterly nonchalant.

"I lied."

...

Darklore — Warborn Household.

It had already been a few days since Kaden returned from the east. The first thing he did was approach his parents, telling them he had saturated his core, hoping they would grant him evolution stones...

But they didn’t.

They hesitated, considered, but in the end traditions and culture were not things easily discarded overnight.

Kaden only nodded like an obedient child, saying he understood.

His parents — especially his mother — looked guilty.

And that was exactly when Kaden struck while the iron was hot.

He asked for swords. Special ones, with unique attributes.

That was his real goal all along. He knew they wouldn’t give him stones, so he turned their refusal into guilt, pressing in a way that silently said:

You’ve already refused me once. You won’t do it a second time, right?

And indeed, they didn’t refuse, though they asked him why he needed the swords.

Kaden’s answer was simple: "I have someone to feed."

They looked perplexed but wisely chose not to comment.

Kaden had always been weird anyway.

He was genuinely disappointed by the weapons they offered, none of them truly worthy. Still, he took the swords that boosted strength and agility and handed them to Nasari.

Kaden stood back, curious, as Nasari devoured the blades like they were the finest delicacies in existence, greater than anything in either reality or imagination.

It was a funny sight.

By the end, Nasari’s strength and agility had risen considerably, and Kaden’s grin widened into something feral.

From then on, he felt especially motivated to nurture Nasari. The man was now the Ruined Knight and Kaden would make him worthy of that title.

Aside from that, Kaden spent his days sleeping or sitting in his room, lounging on a reclining chair as he polished the blade of Reditha.

There was nothing to clean. Reditha was always pristine. As expected of a woman, you could say.

But he did it anyway, simply because he wanted to do something for her.

He could sit there for hours, just polishing, while Reditha thrummed in a faint red hue to show her appreciation. Those were her happiest moments.

Only her and Kaden. No Rory, no one else.

But today was different.

Today...Kaden wandered into the Archive’s room.

The Archive was where portraits of the previous rulers of the Warborn were kept, alongside their weapons. To the family, it was an extremely sacred place.

The colors were unmistakable — black and red.

On the ceiling, the Warborn crest: two crossed swords above a pool of blood.

The floor was covered with a blood-red carpet, eerie yet striking. The room was massive, its walls lined with the faces of Kaden’s ancestors from the beginning of time until now.

Kaden had been there for hours, reading their descriptions. Some of them shocked him deeply. Only now did he truly grasp how powerful his ancestors had been.

No, powerful wasn’t even the right word. They were monstrous.

Origins varied — longswords, odachi, daggers, warhammers, spears, even gauntlets and chains.

The variety was immense, and every single one of them was frightening.

But one portrait made him stop.

A woman.

His brow furrowed.

"I thought only men could rule the family?" he asked his sister Daela, who had accompanied him silently from the start.

Daela looked at the portrait, it was a stunning woman scarred by an ugly mark that ran from her forehead, slicing down across her right eye to her lips. Blood-red eyes stared with apathy so cold it felt alive. Black ichor hair, cut short but striking.

She wore intricate black-and-red armor, crimson gauntlets gleaming on her hands.

"Scarlet Warborn," Daela said dryly. "Younger sister of grandfather Raven Warborn. Our great-aunt. She was so strong she was made an exception...the first woman ruler of the Warborn. But one day, she disappeared, leaving her place to grandfather."

Her voice trailed back into silence.

Kaden’s lips twitched.

What was it with his family and disappearing?

His grandfather Raven vanished. Scarlet vanished. Dain vanished. Even their first ancestor was gone.

’Is this some kind of family tradition?’ Kaden wondered bitterly.

But what truly held his attention was Scarlet herself. A woman, yet she had ruled a clan of men.

She had broken tradition.

And she had done it with one thing.

Strength.

Kaden had been turning this over in his mind for a while now. How would he make his family accept his harem? It wasn’t easy.

He had said to Mayari that he wouldn’t change tradition only make it better, an evolved version. But that would only happen if his family saw it that way.

What if they thought it dishonorable? What if they believed it would shame their legacy?

What then? Would he follow Scarlet’s path, gain absolute strength, and force them to bend?

It was possible. But Kaden felt reluctant to use strength for this. He wanted to make them understand. He just didn’t know how.

His expression darkened, his eyes swallowed by shadow.

At that moment, Kaden turned to his stoic sister.

It was useless, he knew, asking someone who barely spoke to him.

But right then, he needed someone to hear him.

Someone who might understand.

Yes...he just needed his sister.

With a trembling voice, his eyes fixed on Scarlet’s portrait, Kaden parted his lips.

"Daela...I have something to tell you."

—End of Chapter 199—

A/N:

Sigh...

Why am I not seeing golden tickets raining down? Gifts? PS?

Am I not writing peak enough?

Sigh...