I started to clap my hands. "Beautiful, what a masterpiece." I said out loud on accident, turned to Tess who was looking at me weirdly, and then looked back up at Arthur.
"Veer, is that ---?" Tess stepped up next to me as everyone took in the sight before them.
"Princess, wait, it's not safe." Drogo told her, but she ignored him.
"Is it?" She turned to me, and I was the only one in the cavern smiling at that moment, she turned her head toward Arthur again, and called out to him. "Arthur!" His eyes didn't settle on her, but on me. "Arthur, is that you?!"
"Veer!" Arthur shouted from up on the throne, and I felt my body shiver. "What the hell are you doing here?!" My eyes widened as he spoke.
A white blur caught my eye and flew by me into Tessia's arms. "Sylvie!" Tess exclaimed as she held the dragon in her white fox form.
"Kyu!" Sylvie made some cute noise.
"Arthur?" Helen called out, and I watched as his eyes stayed focused on me, he pulled his teal blade out of the corpse of a dead mana beast, then he leapt down to the floor in front of us all.
"Art?" Tessia said, holding Sylvie close to her.
"Don't get mad." I instantly said, seeing as he was still staring. "Arthur, it's good to see you." I took a step towards him, and Drogo called out.
"S-state y-your business here!" He stuttered, scared by Arthur's aura.
I turned to Drogo. "It's my brother." I saw his eyes widen, and I felt Arthur start to walk toward me.
"Veer, what are you doing here in a dungeon?" He spoke coldly as I faced him, he stood now two yards from me, and every soldier currently in the cavern was silent, frozen in fear, confusion, and aww.
"So, long story, I joined the war." I sent him a smile, and then shrugged. "There's a lot you need to be caught up on." He was covered in blue blood, and he was wearing a cloak like me.
"No." Arthur said and turned to Helen. "Helen, my father let Veer join the war?"
"He did." I answered for her. "Now, be happy to see me." I walked up and hugged my brother, something I had been waiting to do for a while. "I missed you."
Arthur fell silent and embraced my hug, then spoke again. "I missed you too, Veer, I am sorry, we'll discuss this whole you joining the war later." I pulled away from him and nodded my head.
I saw him shoot a smile at Tess, and the Twin Horns came rushing over to him. "Arthur, you're back!" Angela exclaimed, Adam and Durden gave him a pat on the back.
"Art." Helen said and hugged him.
"It's good to see you all." Arthur said as he stood next to me now. "You are coming back to the castle with me." He whispered into my ear.
"Not now." I waved him off. "Let's get back to the base then." I was planning on coming with him, there was nothing here for me now. Tessia was keeping her space from him, which I got, his aura and demeanor weren't open, they were cold. "Arthur, maybe pull your aura back, some people in here can't deal with it."
"My bad." I felt my brother try and sense my core level as his aura disappeared.
"That's not going to work." I told him as I began to exit the room, the soldiers were still staring at us. "Drogo, the Twin Horns and I are going to take my brother back, there's no need for a report, he killed them all, I sensed it a while ago."
"O-okay." Drogo said as I walked past him, he trusted me.
"Let's go." I motioned for Arthur to come, and Sylvie flew to me. "Sylvie, it's good to see you." I held her in my arms and began to pet her ears.
"Come on." Adam told him, and they all caught up with me as we started to walk back to the base. I noticed that Tessia's team followed us as well, as the soldiers that were behind us began to search the mana beast, probably for their cores, but I knew Sylvie ate them all.
I now walked beside Arthur and Jasmine. "You know, you aren't the first person to clear a floor by themselves?" Jasmine nudged my brother and looked at me. "Veer has been doing it daily."
Arthur gave me a look of concern. "Don't worry, there is a lot to catch you up on." I wasn't going to tell him here that I fought a Retainer and won. "I'll be happy to tell you all my stories."
"Please do, I would love to hear them, in the castle, where it is safe." Arthur was another person who didn't want me to fight in the war, that would change when he finds out everything. "And you are able to clear dungeon floors by yourself?" His serious attitude changed, and he spoke with a proud voice, which made me happy.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, I've been doing it for the last two years." I was counting the time I spent with my team, I basically did all the work. "How have you been?"
"Yeah, tell us about your training with the Asuras." Helen put a hand on his shoulder.
"It was rough, did its purpose." Arthur answered. "I can't share all the details, I'm sorry." Too bad, I knew all the details. "It's good to see that all of you are doing well though."
"As well as you can be during war." Adam responded. "Honestly, without the little Demon over there, we would have been in serious danger multiple times."
"Little Demon..." Arthur sent me a confused look.
"They call him the Devil of Dicathen now." Jasmine motioned towards me. "Wait till you hear how he got the nickname."
Arthur turned to me, most likely waiting for me to tell him. "Go on, tell me."
"Before I do, don't get mad at me." He looked at me suspiciously, this may make him a little upset. "Basically, I killed a hundred Alacryans by myself." I spoke fast, trying to get it out there for him.
"What?!" He exclaimed, stopping in his tracks, which made us all stop. "You are telling me, you, my ten year old li----"
I cut him off. "Eleven."
He stared, then continued. "My eleven year old little brother, faced a hundred Alacryans by himself, and won." I smiled and nodded my head. "Huh."
"Kyu!" Sylvie exclaimed in my arms.
I bent my head and whispered. "I know you can speak." I pulled my head back and smirked at her. The dragon's little eyes widened, and I made a shushing noise.
Forgetting that Arthur and her have a bond, Arthur gave me a shocked expression.
"Yeah, it was a big deal, made a lot of people put faith in him." Jasmine had my back, which was nice. "You can't take that away from him."
"I can't sense your mana core." Arthur ignored Jasmine, still trying to feel me out. "Is that your blood magic?"
"Yes, but Arthur, I am a white core mage." His eyes widened. "Which, if I am not mistaken, makes me stronger than you."
"Ha, I thought you were the evil spawn." Adam shot at Arthur. "It turned out it was Veer."
Arthur shook his head. "You're a white core mage, Veer?" I nodded my head again. "I guess I did miss a lot." It fell silent, and he spoke up again. "You killed a hundred people..."
"Well, if that's the number you want to stay with, then yeah." The teleportation gate appeared before us.
"Art, you should be proud of what he has done so far." Helen told him.
"Wait, what do you mean, the number you want to stay with, Veer?" Arthur asked as we stepped through the teleportation gate. "I am proud of you, but I am your brother, I worry."
"I know, and what I mean, is that I killed more than one hundred Alacryans." It was probably close to one hundred and fifty.
"Tell him about the one you didn't kill." Adam told me as the base came into view. "The little Demon did the job you were supposedly training for."
"What?" Arthur was going to be completely stunned by this, I wasn't going to tell him here, but Adam brought it up now.
"Don't freak out." I passed Sylvie to him, and she jumped onto his head. "I may or may not have, fought a Retainer." I paused for a second and continued. "And won."
"You're lying." We walked through the entrance and made our way inside the base. "You defeated a Retainer?" He was in a complete loss of words, trying to figure out how his little brother defeated someone so powerful.
"I did, and wait until you hear which one." I sent him a smile. "It was the Retainer who killed Lance Alea." My brother froze once again, and his eyes settled on mine, seeing if I was being serious. "He told me, so, I did what he did to her, to him."
"You did what?" Arthur was the one who discovered the Lance, so he knows what I am talking about. He was a little confused by what I meant, but I think he was starting to understand.
"He butchered the guy." Darvus called out from behind us as they caught up with the group. We were all standing still in a sort of circle now, talking about what I did. "Saved my life though."
"I only cut his horns, an arm, a leg, and both his eyes, he deserved it Arthur, the guy was a dick." He never met Uto in this world, so he wouldn't know, but if novel him knew, he would be happy.
"Good job, Veer." Arthur put a hand on my shoulder. "I am proud of you, but that's a fight you should not be fighting." He spoke with a kind, but authoritative voice. "You're done fighting in the war."
I shook my head. "Maybe your right, but you weren't here, I was." I just stared at him, I wasn't being rude or anything. "So, I protected our people." I wasn't going to be mad at Arthur for not liking that I joined the war. He was my brother, and all he was doing was worrying about me. I was also his younger brother, eleven years of age.
"I am now." Arthur removed his arm from my shoulder. "If d-dad, isn't here, he hasn't joined the war then, right?"
"Yeah, only me from the family." I slipped my cloak off and rested it on my shoulder. I really needed to clean the thing, it had so much blood on it. "But you know, sooner or later, they are going too."
"Maybe." Arthur answered and then spun around. "Is there a place I could wash up at?"
I pointed at the stream of water on the edge of the base. "Over there, I'll walk over with you."
"Okay, I'll catch up with you all later." Arthur and I started to walk, I felt Tess's eyes staring at the back of Arthur's head.
"We'll be in the main tent waiting for you!" Helen shouted towards us.
"Okay." I answered. "It's that one." I pointed the tent out to Arthur.
We walked in silence, then he spoke. "You've really made a name for yourself it seems, which is good, but you have to understand an eleven year old shouldn't be in here."
"I get it, but Arthur, you need me." The bathing area was just up ahead. "And I'll tell you everything when we get back, because there is one other thing you should know."
"What's that?"
"It something that I'll wait to tell you." It was about my Beast Will he gave me, "You know, mom and dad are going to be excited to see you." He turned his head away from me, probably thinking about the last time they were together. "Arthur, they got over whatever happened."
"Did they tell you what happened?" He asked as he turned his head back to me.
"Not exactly, but for a while they were upset, but now they can't wait until you return." This was the truth, to some extent. I need to change the subject. "You know, Wren was very nice to me, I don't know if I am supposed to tell you this or not, but he trained me."
"Wren, the Asura?" Arthur spoke questioningly, but shocked slightly, I nodded my head. "He didn't tell me that, you were really trained by Wren?"
"Yeah, but I would keep that a secret, like I said, I don't know if you were supposed to know that." We stopped in front of the bathing area. "This is it."
"We are going to talk more when I am done." He sent me a smile. "Honestly, it's good to see you, Veer, truly, you've grown so much." He opened the door to get into a spot to bathe in. "I want to hear more about this fight with the Retainer."
"I'll tell you all about it later." I spun around. "I'm going to be in the main tent waiting for you."
Arthur entered the door, then responded to me. "I'll be out in ten minutes." I started to walk up to the main tent, where Drogo and some others did their planning.
I couldn't help but smile, my brother was finally home.