Truth be told, it wasn't entirely necessary for Corvus to sneak around in a cloak like some vagabond or assassin hunting his target. For one, most people were paying attention to their screens, or whatever screen was showing the opening ceremonies which for the record consisted of a live musical performance where the physically soothed your worries as well as healed any minor conditions of those who listened to it.

Unfortunately it was only for those listening live, those watching online would just get a truly wonderful performance, but those viewing in person would leave the arena feeling utterly refreshed and younger than they entered.

But even if people were filling the streets and looking at the faces of those who passed them by, which was happening slightly as some just didn't care as much or wanted to complete errands before the actual competitions. It was just a simple fact that people generally forget faces, especially when they weren't expecting them to be somewhere.

Plus, it's not as if he had a recognisable face. If anyone did see him, they would simply think he was Seth, the plucky squire that followed the Lord around and did his dirty work. It wouldn't register to them that his face should be burned, because they just didn't know him as well as the Lord.

After all, he had spent the better half of a year cooped up in a lab and a space ship that he 'borrowed' working on different projects. He wasn't exactly man of the year, advertised on every street corner.

To anyone passing by, he was just a man. A normal, albeit gorgeously handsome yet amazingly humble, man.

Yet even knowing all of this, Corvus still chose to pull his hood close over his face and skulk in the shadows like a thief in the night. Because what was the point in sneaking around if you weren't going to act all sneaky?

It took all the fun out of it.

Eventually, practicality had to take over from fun, as it always did, as Corvus slipped into an alleyway. From the other direction, a headless suit of armour jogged into the alley to meet him.

It stopped in front of him, raising its hand to its non-existent head in a strange salute.

Corvus chuckled to himself as he puppeteered the empty armour, making it turn around and face away from him as he turned himself into his soul form once more. He slipped into the amour, getting everything in the right place with the help of his puppeteering, before becoming solid once again.

The next time the armour moved, it was because of his body inside of it instead of puppeteering.

The armour itself was midnight black plate, with a design based more around intimidation rather than practicality. That meant skulls incorporated into the shoulder plates and a lot of spikes in different places, such as on the side of his forearms.

It was probably incredibly impractical, and would garner a lot of complaints from certain armour loving nerds. He knew that for a fact, because the armour loving nerd known as Titus that made it for him complained about it the entire time he made it, even though he was the one who suggested doing so in the first place.

Yes, this impractical armour was entirely forged and crafted rather than gifted as a Requital. It was his show armour, the armour every king wore when he needed to prove his presence.

It also came equipped with a hood and flowing cape, to complete his signature style. The hood had a basic enchantment to help hide his face when it was pulled up, made by painting runes onto the inside of the fabric.

With his new outfit set, Corvus made one last sneaky trip over to the house where his third companion was living, and where Astra was already waiting for him.

He didn't bother knocking, simply strolled in like he owned the place. It was quite the fancy house too, a lot of care and effort had gone into building it and its size, as well as privacy, just reflected the status of the individual who owned it.

Following the sound of voices, Corvus strolled into the main sitting room and found Astra lounging on the couch, casually sipping a cup of tea, while she chatted and gossiped with Ophelia, his older sister.

"Well now, Look at you." Ophelia laughed as she saw Corvus walk into the room in his show armour, "Fancy man in his fancy new outfit. Almost makes me feel under dressed. You know you really should have worn that one to the show.

Would have had all the girls screaming your name and leave them all so impressed."

She grinned widely as she teased him, before letting out a yelp of pain when Astra slapped her arm in annoyance.

"Oh sorry, sorry. There's only one girl you need to be impressing now." She said with an apologetic smile, taking a sip of her own tea and muttering into the cup, "Although maybe you should be impressing her with a ring some time soon."

That earned her another slap from Astra, who hissed at her to shut up through her teeth. The girls stared at each other, their expressions shifting as they silently conversed entirely through their eyes and the shifting of their eyebrows.

Their silent argument was getting so intense, that eventually Corvus had to clear his throat to interrupt them.

Both of their heads snapped to him, glaring in anger as he spoke with an exasperated sigh.

"Is he ready? Did you tell him what needs to be done?"

Ophelia's expression softened before she nodded softly, "Yeah I told him, although he might need some encouragement from you. He's still disappointed from the last time he 'failed'.

Seth... He's a fragile boy. Are you sure you can't just tell him it's you? Wouldn't that make it easier?"

Corvus stayed silent for a few seconds, his expression hidden behind the hood as Ophelia did her best to peer underneath it from where she sat. He stared at the ground, thinking deeply about god knows what, before turning on his heels and silently walking away.

Ophelia watched him go with a complicated look in her eyes, before letting out another sigh. She turned to Astra, keeping her voice low this time.

"I am worried about him, something is definitely wrong. I can feel it. He's usually all tightly wound and uptight, that's just the way he is. Has to take responsibility for everything, which is probably why he is in this mess in the first place.

But this is... I dunno, different. He's different. I just can't put my finger on it.

Please, you have to tell me something."

Astra's stony expression remained largely unreadable as she glanced to the side and thought about her answer. This is why no one ever wanted to play poker with her. She was far too good at a resting scary face that no one could ever tell when she was bluffing.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Astra finally looked back at Ophelia and answered.

"I can't say entirely what happened, I promised not to. But... I didn't promise not to tell you this part.

When he did his evolution and everything else happened, he also had a... I don't know what to call it. A dream? A vision? A memory, perhaps?

I don't know. But he told me about it. He remembered talking to his mother the night she died. I don't know the entire conversation, he was pretty loose about that. Just that she was sweet to him, helped him fall back to sleep. It seems nice, but for some reason he seemed really... weirded out by it whenever I brought it up afterwards."

Ophelia frowned deeply as she listened to the story before shaking her head, "It had to have been just some dream he had when he was a kid.

Our mother never spoke to him that night, she hardly left the clerics sight after she was chosen. It was all preparations until the... event. She would never have had a chance to speak to him.

It was just a dream, a boy wishing for something he never had. A sweet, caring mother. That's all."

She gulped down the rest of her drunk, placing down the cup in frustration as her leg began to bounce and shake. Her own memories of their mother came flooding back to her, especially some memories she had tried desperately to forget.

Those memories were the reason that she got them all out of that cult in the first place, so none of her family would ever have to suffer from those same memories.

Astra narrowed her eyes, watching her carefully before shrugging.

"Maybe... But it was vivid enough to him that he thought it might have been real. He did say she was talking to someone, maybe that was one of those clerics. Plus... he kept going on about this writing on her forehead."

Astra raised her hand, the tip of her finger sparkling with white energy as she started to write in the air. Her finger left a trail as she traced the writing that Seth had shown her. It was crude, as her memory of it was hazy and she wasn't too bothered about the details of it.

But as soon as she started writing, Ophelia completely froze. Her eyes widened, jaw tightened and all the blood drained from her face.

"T-that's not possible. He couldn't have seen that. I made sure he didn't! He can't know that!"

"Lea... What's wrong? What does it mean?"

"That's... that is the name of Death. It's what they wrote on the chosen before... right before they sacrificed them. I made sure there was no possible way he could have seen any of the sacrifices.

He was too young... So how?! How does he know about that?"