"It's good to see you up, Devil." Callias laughed, and walked into the room, giving me a smile. "Can't believe someone was able to almost out power you."
"Ha." I shook my head at him. "That's the first thing you say to me, typical, and they didn't almost out power me, they did out power." Uto clearly was stronger, I was smarter in that moment at least.
"It's good to see you up and about." Callias nodded at me. "You seem fine, already got your cloak on."
I shrugged. "I love this cloak."
"I got it for him." Tessia smiled at me. "Remember?"
"Yes, I remember." I smiled back at her, thinking about that reminded me of Arthur. Was he going to come back sooner, now that a Retainer was in captivity? I would assume he would, but now, maybe Agrona pulls back, and waits. Also, would Agrona send another Retainer to take Uto's spot, since he was taken down so early?
"He is always wearing it." Ellie spoke up. "Does he ever take that off inside of the dungeons?"
"Nope, only to wash it." Callias said, and everyone laughed at me. "Veer, I know you just woke up, but you should really go see Commander Virion, a lot went down. I'm not trying to take anything away from you Alice, Rey, but Dicathen is in trouble."
I took a deep breath. "Mom, dad, I'll see you guys afterwards." I took a step toward the exit. "Come on Tess, you should come with."
"We will be waiting here; we all understand what happened is important." My dad spoke for my mom and Ellie, I gave them all a sorry gaze, and left the room.
"Uhh, I'm sure you explained everything already." I turned to Callias.
"Yeah, but I couldn't really talk about the fight at all, since you were the only one there." He responded, and Tess came walking behind us.
"Darvus was there, bleeding out and unconscious, but he was there." Tess didn't need to say that we knew that.
"True." Callias nudged me. "I do want to hear how you defeated the Retainer by yourself."
"It's really nothing so spectacular, my blood magic gave me an upper hand at the end of the day." I answered him truthfully.
"You brutally beat him, Veer." Tessia said coldly, not liking what I did.
"I know." I scratched my head. "I'm going to work on it, there's something wrong."
"Wrong?" Tess and Callias both spoke at the same time.
"Yeah, I'll admit it, I'm losing my mind." We walked in silence as the council room appeared before us. "Let me deal with it for now, I'm going to talk to Elder Virion later alone."
"Oh, alright." Callias, who was normally chatty, went silent; I didn't hear Tessia say anything. The doors to the council room opened, and we walked inside.
"Veer, you're up." Elder Virion said, standing up out of his seat, and made his way over to me.
"Yes, I am." Inside the room was Bairon and Aldir.
Elder Virion approached me. "You two can leave, I only want to speak to Virion."
"Grandfather---" She was cut off by a cold glare from Elder Virion. "Yes, Commander." Callias sighed, and the two of them left the room, upset, they couldn't stay.
"Virion, it is good to see you." Elder Virion placed a hand against the back of my neck and held his forehead to mine. "I was worried when I didn't hear back from the messenger at your base." He pulled his head back and gave me a smile as he went back to his seat. "Thank you for protecting Tessia."
"You know I wouldn't let anything happen to her." Lance Bairon was sitting to the left of Elder Virion's chair. "Lance Bairon, I'm happy you ended up okay."
"Next time, tell me everything, so I know you're fighting a Retainer, and could get more help." He told me.
"Speaking of which, tell us what you know about him." Aldir ordered.
I shrugged. "His name was Uto, kind of a dick, he could conjure spikes in the shadows, so make sure he wears mana cuffs."
"He can't use any mana arts in the cell he's in." Elder Virion told me. "How'd you defeat him, and why did you do what you did to him?"
"You know why, I'm sure someone already told you, and I beat him by simply landing more hits than he did." It's hard to explain the whole fight.
"He's the one who killed Lance Alea, so it's true." I nodded my head. "You didn't have to do what you did though."
"That's another thing we need to discuss." I knew it needed to be said, but it was hard to say. "I'm losing my mind, gramps." I saw their faces widen in surprise from my words. "And I believe I know why."
"Because you're a kid." Lance Bairon answered.
I shook my head no. "I wish it was that." I looked at my chest, then up to Elder Virion. "My Beast Will."
"What?" Elder Virion didn't seem to understand, but that makes sense.
"Explain." Aldir said with an authoritative tone.
I couldn't say my core was corrupted, it would be hard to explain how I know. "We know that the Alacryans can control mana beast, right?" They all nodded their heads. "Well, what if my Beast Will came from a mana beast, they intended on controlling and it's corrupted."
"It's possible." Aldir's third eye stared into my soul.
"I'm fine for now, but if I allow it to progress, there might be a chance I go crazy, crazy, like attack my own friends." I didn't know what I would do in the heart of the battle. "I'm not leaving the field, but we need to figure something out." I was looking for help, this was something I couldn't figure out alone.
"I don't see how we take you out of the field after you took down a Retainer, but if you are going insane like you said. We need to discuss it, you might not be safe out there, our troops might not be safe with you out there." Elder Virion told me.
"I know, I know, but trust me, I'll be able to control it for a while, since I know what's happening now." I knew I could control it, knowing what's happening, if it was the truth.
"Fine, I'll look into it." Elder Virion nodded. "There is another matter to discuss."
"Olfred?" I asked, knowing that's the only thing else we haven't talked about.
"Yes and no." Aldir answered for Elder Virion. "We now know that Darv isn't fully on our side, and we are doing our best to change that." I shook my head, knowing it wasn't possible. "What is it?"
"Don't you understand?" I ran a hand through my hair, getting ready to speak the truth. "There are already Alacryans in Darv, that's how they are getting here."
"How do you know this?!" Elder Virion exclaimed. "That can't be true."
I shook my head. "It is, I heard it all from Olfred, gramps, not all of Darv on their side, so I suggest keeping it a secret, and you know what, do what you can to try and get them back on our side." I could send a clone to Darv. "Honestly, if we show them that we know, it may get worse, because at this moment, they aren't joining the fight with the Alacryans."
"Huh, you are clever, aren't you." Elder Virion nodded his head at me. "Have you been a secret mastermind all this time? I mean, spying on Olfred, sending Bairon to defeat him while you fight the Retainer, knowing everything about Darv, it seems impossible."
"I think you should trust me, know that I'm always thinking ahead." This was not true, I came up with that plan on the spot, it was lucky it worked.
"Hah, you may be right." Elder Virion turned to Lance Bairon. "You want to tell him?"
"Sure." Lance Bairon stepped up and looked at me. "Virion, we already decided this, now with Olfred gone, it makes even more sense. It's been decided that you would take the role of Lance, knowing that you are already stronger than some of us." Oh, some of them, he means all.
"You want me to become a Lance? Even after I spoke about how I was going insane?" I was surprised to hear this. When I first came to this world, this was something I never thought was possible, now it was happening, I was becoming a goddamn Lance.
"Virion, do you accept? We will deal with your sanity later, as you said, we can trust you to keep it under control for now." Elder Virion said as he stood up, then Aldir stood up, and the three of them looked at me, waiting for my answer.
"I feel like the whole council should be here for my response, but obviously, I'm not going to refuse." I smiled at them.
"Oh, you may be right." Elder Virion pondered the situation, then went on. "No matter, you are now Lance Virion."
"No more dungeon raids for you." Aldir spoke, and I knew that was the truth. I liked my team though, and I was going to miss being with them. "Staying in the castle as a Lance wouldn't hurt you."
"We could figure things out with your will, while we discuss war, and now, I would like to hear what type of strategies you can come up with." Elder Virion smiled at me. "I know your family wouldn't mind it."
"Yes, but you'll need to act like a Lance now." Lance Bairon told me. "You are the hope of Dicathen, act the part."
"That feels like a good idea for now, but I want to be out in the field a little." I couldn't just walk away, even with my craziness, I want to still help where I could. "Like I said, I'm fine to fight."
Elder Virion nodded. "That's perfectly fine, I understand you don't want to be locked up here."
"Virion, we've also decided to keep Arthur out of the blue, until we absolutely need him." I knew that Windsom and Aldir would keep this from him. "You are responsible for Dicathen until he returns, if any Retainers or Scythes show up again, we will send all our Lances."
I shook my head, I was involved in the war now, they needed to know. "I'm telling you all now, if there's a Scythe, don't send anyone important, we won't be able to take them, not even if we all show up." I might be able to soon, when I hit white core, but not now.
"What are you saying?" Lance Bairon spoke, and I stepped up and got a little bit closer to them.
"If I was able to defeat Lance Varay, and I barely was able to defeat a Retainer." I paused and gave the Lance a worried look. "How strong do you think their Scythes are? If I had to guess, stronger than all our Lances combined."
"Do you actually believe that?" Elder Virion asked.
"Yes, but I'm not saying they can't be defeated." I had plans for Cadell, I had to remember, if I was fighting him, the odds were, Arthur would be at my side. "Strategy is everything, Lance Bairon, you should know that. If we come up with a brilliant plan, we could kill anyone."
"You can create clones, Virion? When did you learn that?" Aldir stared at me, trying to figure out how he couldn't tell.
"Oh, it's something I picked up while in the dungeon." I smiled, now knowing the god couldn't tell that it was a clone. "It uses a lot of mana, but yes, I can create clones, and I am sorry I had it here spying on Olfred in secret. I assure you; it wasn't my intention to do anything reckless."
"It was a surprise, that's all, we understand why you did it." Aldir stood up. "I think we are good for now; I'm going to take my leave."
"I think we should all leave for now, go be with your family, Lance Virion." Elder Virion motioned for me to leave. "The news of you becoming a Lance stays in this room for now, we will announce it later, when Arthur gets back. We'll tell everyone you are taking a break from dungeons, but instead, running errands for me."
"That's fine." I exited the room, this meant white core was around the corner. I rubbed my eyes, knowing I had a shit ton to do. I turned the corner down an empty hallway, and activated my ring, pulling mana through my blood to my core, then stopping after five seconds. My core was still hurting from doing it in the battle with Uto for too long.
I shrugged, fine, I activated the ring, and started to absorb the mana. However, I didn't send it to my core, I pulled the mana to my palm, where I felt the Acclorite inside of me. It started to consume the mana at the insane rate my core usually does, this was perfect, I stopped after ten seconds.
"Alright, I can deal with that." I smiled as I made my way back to the medical bay.