Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius gingerly pulled the fabric off the package in his hands after realizing it was a gift for him. Underneath the simple cloth were a pair of gauntlets with gloved fingers. Almost like an exoskeleton, the fingers were protected with small pieces of metal that were hinged together to create a fully armored glove.

The metal continued halfway up Lucius's forearm and replaced the simple gauntlets he currently wore perfectly.

The design itself was simple and matched his current set of armor as well. A handful of runes ran down the inside of each glove. Since Lucius could not read the language used for enchanting, he could not immediately tell what the formations were designed to do.

Lucius quickly pulled his armor out of his storage ring and began to wear it. Though the process was slow, he was going to be wearing it for some time anyways. Kalliope stepped in to assist him with a few of the straps on his back and under his arms before he was finally ready to equip his gift.

The insides of them were stitched with a gentle material that was not quite velvet, though had a similar texture. It served to wick extra moisture from the wearer's body to reduce the possibility of chafing. The gauntlets themselves fit perfectly and were very comfortable and lightweight.

He sent a charge of mana into the metal forcing the runes to glow a pale blue. Sparks of electricity began to dance along the surface and bounced repeatedly between his fingers on both ends. A moment later, he witnessed the fingertips of the gauntlets begin to sharpen and grow, creating metallic claws at the end of each of his hands.

"I like to call these things the Stun Gloves. The runes are simple Thunder Magic formations. I don't know too much about that school, but I know enough to make it hurt when you punch or grab someone!" Corva laughed. "I also took a little inspiration from your special machete there with the extension feature and combined that with your pseudo-shifting thing that grows and forms claws on your hands.

Except these babies are made of metal."

"I wonder if my Arts would consider these things to be similar to brass knuckles…" Lucius mused before turning and catching Corva waiting for his response. "Thank you, and you as well, Kalliope. These will be very helpful."

"Do you want to try them?" Kalliope panted.

Lucius could see she was getting the urge to fight. He could not help but smile and approached her slowly. She stifled a yelp as he gently moved his hand to her belly. His body blocked the viewpoint of anyone who was watching so only they knew where he had placed his hand.

Lucius quietly leaned forward and whispered, "Though it may be some time for us to know, you must act a little more wary for now, yes?"

Kalliope gulped and nodded quickly before introducing space in between them. Desmond and Jade approached them from the interior of the manor. On the man's back was a beautiful spear with a bronze-colored shaft and two terrifyingly sharp blades on either end. He beamed with excitement at Lucius.

"Thanks for this, my friend!" The purple-haired man shouted while pulling Lucius into a friendly embrace. "This spear is one of the most amazing weapons I have had the fortune of wielding. Princess Corva is a genius!"

Lucius could feel Desmond tense up as the man realized what it was that he was doing. Slowly, he pulled away from Lucius, not realizing that he had violated Lucius's personal space in his excitement.

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Desmond awkwardly dusted invisible dust off of Lucius's shoulder. "Right! Um, sorry about that."

Jade began to laugh from behind, breaking the tension. A moment after her, Lucius and Kalliope joined in while Desmond wiped a bit of nervous sweat from his brow before beginning to heartily laugh along.

A quiet presence stood in the shadows of the manor's interior, watching the display outside. Lucius could easily feel the person's eyes on him. Though he could not see her, he somehow knew Snow's exact location as if it were by instinct. When his eyes brushed across the area she was hiding, the elf instantly appeared as if whatever spell she used had ceased to function.

Panic welled up momentarily in her eyes before she blinked and steeled her resolve, walking out to join them. "So," She said loudly, "What is our next step, Lady Corva?"

"Oh, um." The elf princess awkwardly scratched her chin. "Whatever Lucius wants to do I suppose? I imagine you want to head to the battlefield? Are you good if I just pass out in the carriage? It'll take several days to get there if we run the beasts ragged and I need some sleep."

Yue sighed from the side but said nothing. Instead, she simply walked over to the carriage, pulled a series of suitcases out of her storage ring, and placed them in the storage area on the back.

Since they would be passing through areas suffering from the aftermath of war, it was likely they would be targeted by bandits. Another aspect of war was that local bandit gangs would have their numbers increased by deserters, so they would be stronger and more skilled than usual.

Having no cargo on the exterior of your carriage was a tactic that would attract more attention their way. If a carriage traveled without visible luggage, it meant that the people inside had storage rings, and likely, the people wielding them were powerful fighters.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Storage rings required mana to operate, so those without Compatibilities were unable to use them, with the strange exception of Marked Ones with only marks and no Compatibilities, like Jade.

When carriages had a lot of equipment, they usually looked like easy targets because likely no one had or could use storage rings. Basically, Yue was using their own carriage as bait to clean the roads on their way to the Southern Lines. Lucius was not entirely sure how he felt about that, but he shrugged because he figured it would not be that big of a deal.

Not only did their party include Desmond and Lucius, but Corva herself was a rather powerful warrior. Granted there was Kalliope, but he found himself suddenly unwilling to let her battle in the upcoming series of fights. Of course, if she truly wanted to, there wasn't much he could do. No doubt if she felt the need to hold back, she would.

"Alright, does anyone need anything else?" Lucius said finally. "If not, get in the carriage. We might as well get moving now."

Everyone quickly piled into the carriage. Corva still smelled strongly of soot and sweat, but she did not seem to care about what anyone thought. Rather, she simply collapsed on one of the seats in the large carriage while Yue kneeled on the floor and began to wipe her lady's body clean with a damp cloth.

Of course, she could only get the parts that were uncovered by clothes with Lucius present, but there would likely be time to clean more thoroughly on the road.

Snow sat near the exit door with the window opened to allow for breathable air to wash out the smell of a sweaty and unconscious elf. She also held in her hand a crest belonging to the royal family so they could easily pass through any checkpoints with little issue.

After nearly three hours, they finally reached the outer gates of the capital city, where there was a line keeping them from advancing. Lucius found himself growing impatient and started to tap his foot restlessly. Yue's ears twitched with every tap, and with a smile that did not reach her eyes, she turned around and asked politely, "Is there something wrong, Lord Kane?"

Lucius grumbled and stopped tapping his foot, earning a small giggle from Jade who pointed out that he did not like crowds. She was not wrong either. Ever since he first visited Lelvern as a boy, he had developed a distaste for crowds. He had gotten somewhat used to it in the capital of Arcadios, but Aedrider's capital was many times larger.

"What is your plan?" Snow asked. She had heard from the others that he had ignored and denied any attempts made by the elves to get him to divulge the information. She also hoped that now they were not around those people he would be more open.

"You'll learn when we get there. The plan in my mind might not even work depending on any changes that occur between when I last saw the troop placements and what we find." Lucius answered. "For all I know, the Southern Front could have collapsed and we are all heading directly into a full retreat."

His words suddenly made everyone gulp and go silent. For the next few hours, Lucius enjoyed simple peace and quiet while he gently rubbed Kalliope's ears as she lay her head in his lap. Though the line and crowds still made him nervous, being able to focus his senses on their surroundings instead of managing simple conversation with the others, helped calm his nerves.