Lucas and Asta made their way back to the room Lucas woke up in. Entering it, Bell was awaiting them with a plate of snacks and small drinks poured in silver cups.
"How did it go, Young Master?", she had a big smile on her face, though Lucas could not tell why.
Grabbing a snack from the tray, Asta grabbed two chairs and placed them on the soft decorated carpet. "It went fine. Either way, Lucas, we have all the tools to become Rank 3 right now. But before we do so, I wanted to explain something."
"Right, with that pill, we'll have improved our dome, but we're still lacking enough energy from another mage."
"I can arrange that, don't worry. What matters now is the following; during our consumption of that pill, we will be engrossed in meditation for a few hours. If we get interrupted, we suffer some kind of backlash."
"So we need to do it in a secure spot?"
"That's right. To ensure that we get through it, I want to go in turns, so that one of us can protect the other."
Lucas found logic in that strategy, but then he noticed Bell. Pointing at her, "Can't she just pay attention?"
"In theory, yes. Due to her contract, she has to follow my orders, but she's weak. If someone bothered us, we would be screwed."
Staring into Asta's eyes, it was clear there was more to what he said. 'Is he afraid she might betray him?'
'She's in a contract, though.'
'With how many people?'
'..Good question. Just do whatever.'
'Got it.'
Nodding in response, Lucas and Asta took their turns to consume the pill and improve their dome. Hours passed in the room as Lucas ate and drank all the sweets Bell brought in. He didn't talk with her, not wanting to disrupt Asta's meditation.
Instead, he joined his friend and tried to heal some of the wounds he got, though he couldn't remember why.
Eventually it was his turn, and the same thing happened again, only this time Bell wasn't able to refresh her tray since Asta didn't eat or drink anything. Lucas was also extremely underwhelmed by the pill, since the improvement it had on the mental sphere wasn't all that noticeable.
Sure, it got thicker, but it wasn't like he suddenly understood everything or gained some kind of enlightenment. It was mostly boring, what he was looking forward to was his ascension to Rank 3. Seeing how powerful those mages were, he desired that strength the moment he saw it in action.
When he was finished, Asta called in an acquaintance of his. A man entered the room, with his tuxedo, white gloves, and monocle, he fit the image of a perfect butler.
"It has been quite some time Young Master, how have you been?", the butler faced Asta with eyes closed, happy to finally see the son of his lord come home.
"Lucas, this is the butler that serves my father, he's a Rank 3 and will be providing us the necessary energy."
The butler smiled slightly before looking Lucas up and down. "Young Master, I would gladly help you reach the next Rank, but I don't see a reason to help your slave. I don't want to dirty my hands after all."
While spoken lightheartedly, the man clearly meant it. Having not addressed it in detail, just like Aurora had a bad relationship with demons, the Demon World despised humans twice as much.
If there were humans present, they were mostly slaves or fools who daringly risked their lives coming to this place.
Lucas cared little for the insults, but part of him was starting to get seriously annoyed by the people looking down on him. Asta was about to say something before Bell stood on the tip of her toes and whispered something into the butler's ear.
"Bell? Are you serious? Well, I suppose if that's the case, I can't make any excuses. If it is your wish, Young Master, we can start at any point. I'll fetch a few mana crystals to be certain."
Leaving the trio behind, Lucas was confused. "Mana crystals? To fuel his core? How much energy does it take to reach Rank 3?"
"Not that much frankly, but Trane isn't the strongest, his Rank is more for the reputation than the actual combat value."
"Do people really care for those kinds of theatrics?"
"Of course. While Trane would be useless against most actual mages on his rank, he would still be able to deal with the lesser ranks."
"I hope you excluded both of us from that group."
"We've long transcended Rank 2, we're a semi-Rank 3," Asta spoke proudly, but Bell couldn't really believe what she was hearing. She had served the man in front of her since he was a little boy, and while he was smart, to openly call one powerful enough to take down a Rank 3 while not being on that rank was simply arrogance.
'Sure, he was arrogant when young, but those few years of travel to Aurora only worsened his habits.'
She felt the need to say something, since his slave also seemed to agree. If he only got approval and agreement, his condition would spiral out of control. Taking a deep breath, she smiled softly at her young master.
"I'm sure you'll be powerful when you reach the next rank, but please don't become overzealous. There are plenty of powerful people out there, and hubris can easily become your downfall."
She spoke without biting her tongue or tripping over her own words, pride beamed from her face. 'I did it! I spoke with such eloquence! This will surely have touched the young master's heart! I'm sure of it!'
"I'm well aware of my power, and the few flaws I have. But I'm not exaggerating, we've taken down a few Rank 3's already."
"Huh-?", Bell felt like she didn't hear him correctly, but then Trane, the butler, arrived with a small box of crystal gems.
"Let's get started right away, Young Master," the butler sat on his knees and placed the box beside him. Asta took his upper clothing off, revealing a toned body.
Bell's face started to heat up, seeing her Young Master in such a form. Even Lucas nodded in respect.
Sitting down in cross-legged, he presented his back to Trane, who had taken off his gloves to have direct contact with his skin. "Young Master, the energy I will pour into you will not go through your gateways. This means it is extremely important to use as much of your willpower to guide the energy directly to your core. If we fail, you might suffer a serious backlash."
Closing his eyes, Asta gathered his focus to sense every little bit of energy inside his body. Using his willpower, he visualized his own internal organs and flesh.
"I will start with a very small amount of energy, but even so, you will have to be extremely careful. The moment you find the energy, do all it takes to guide it to your core. The moment it reaches it, it will automatically be consumed by it. The more you do it, the easier it will become."
Wondering why they couldn't just use the pathways and gateways that existed, Lucas speculated the energy from a higher ranked being would destroy one's body. Using the internal pathways to carry such a powerful load resulted in the pathways deteriorating or bursting.
Lucas didn't have that issue, since his entire body was special. If one pathway got destroyed, he just moved it to another and healed the first. The pain was immense, but Lucas had grown numb to that kind of pain. So while he could transfer the energy from one place to another, normal mages only had a single road to use. If that broke down, one could only pray.
Asta didn't give a reply, as he was already engrossed in himself, using his full concentration on making sure he followed the instructions perfectly. Lucas, who watched on with interest, found it strange.
'Is this what normal mages have to do to use energy outside their pathways?'
'I told you, it's not that they are weak. Although many of those dumbasses are. It's that we're special. Still, how are you going to deceive them?'
'Don't know yet.'
'Get to work then, dumbass.'
Everyone stayed in complete silence as Asta started to visibly sweat a lot. Bell grabbed a towel and stepped forward, only for Lucas to pull her back. Shaking his head, he assumed any unnecessary interference would heighten the possible risks.
Suddenly, Lucas felt something change, it was like the environment was building up to something, the world anticipated, making the air heavier for a moment. Out of nowhere, mana started to rush past him, gathering towards Asta, who absorbed all of it with ease.
Once the air calmed down, Asta sat with his eyes open, body covered in sweat. "Congratulations, Young Master, you have successfully reached Rank 3!", Trane was all smiles and Bell quickly rushed to his side to wipe the sweat off.
Lucas, as well, clapped in response, "You finally did it."
Asta scoffed at his response, "Sit down, it's your turn next."
Taking the same place, Lucas felt safe, knowing a newly born Asta was watching over him. He kept a close eye on Lucas while Bell continued to care for him. Having such a beauty clean him up, many would feel jealous, yet the serious look on Asta's face showed he cared little for her attention.
Removing his shirt, Lucas revealed his own muscled body. Being obsessed with training since young, his body developed to the limits of what a human body was capable off. Even having received the strongest body strengthening from the Underground Trials, he looked extremely impressive.
Bell noticed his physique, but didn't really find it impressive, finding her young master to be more attractive.
Feeling the warm hands of the butler touch his skin, Lucas tried to calm down. While Asta had it difficult, Lucas would have no problem guiding the mana somewhere, since his entire body was made of pathways.
"Alright, I suppose the Young Master sees you not as a slave but a friend. So, I will help you as well. I will start with a small amount of mana, so be careful."
Trane really disliked the fact that his red skin made contact with the white one from this human. It was a disgrace for demons to help humans since ancient time.
Lucas saw the energy enter his body, and instantly grabbed it and brought it to his core, which ate it up in an instant.
'Hmm? My mana, it's… gone? Wait, did I forget to send any?', sending another string of energy, it vanished the moment it entered Lucas' body.
'Huh? Did he…?', Trane wasn't sure what was happening, but kept giving Lucas his mana. As he kept sending over his own mana, it started to grow in size. Starting with a sliver, it had gone to a constant stream of energy.
As his mana left his body, Trane was about to remove his hands, but couldn't as the suction from his energy hadn't stopped. Despite him not willingly giving Lucas energy, it was now just being sucked out of him at a rapid speed.
'What's going on! It's just- the crystals, I need more energy!', Trane was about to look away from his hands to request help, but Asta already stood ready, grabbing a few crystals, he placed his hands on Lucas' skin and fueled his seemingly bottomless pit.
Trane remove a hand to grab a crystal himself to recharge his core somewhat as they poured in mana at an obscene rate. Bell, who watched on from a distance, felt she was seeing something alien. Pouring Rank 3 energy directly into a Rank 2 mage could have disastrous consequences, yet there were two pouring in every bit of mana they had.
The anticipation in the room started to build once more, as if the whole room was about to explode. The air got extremely heavy, not that anyone had the time to care as they focussed on Lucas.
After a few crystals were depleted, the anticipation changed place with a small vortex as mana from the entire environment started to stream towards Lucas. His core filling up with energy, his body had molted, evolved to a new Rank. Opening his eyes slightly, he felt the raw power in his body all too clearly.
Amazement came from both sides of Lucas as after a few simple calculations they felt confident going up against even Malek without any problems.
Clenching his fist, he felt the power contained within surpassed anything he was able to conjure in the past. Part of him felt pure confidence surge, while the other felt that the world was extremely unfair. He had to do so much work to go up against Rank 3's, yet becoming one now, he would have it so easy.
The path was long, arduous, but most of all, unfair.
As the room settled down, Bell and Trane were wide-eyed staring at Lucas, while Asta only had a simple smile as he handed the man in question a towel. "Here, you stink."
"Don't remind me, my senses have only improved."
Standing up, both had reached new levels of power. Itching to test it out, Trane could feel their lust for battle from afar. Coughing slightly to reset his facial expression, "Young Master, as you've reached a new level of power, it's only right to make you feel accustomed to it. You wouldn't want to crush a glass while drinking some fine wine because you don't know your own power."
Asta put his clothes back on, before shaking his head. "No, there's no time. It's time we go over the plan."
Trane and Bell nodded as they left the room, giving space to the two. Lucas was still trying to grasp his own power as he noticed his body had been restored to its previous version.
'Was this because of the breakthrough? Or did you already fix it?'
'Ah, can't really take all the credit, but yeah, most of it was my work. I sucked that old dude's mana through life drain to destroy and fix all the messed up parts.'
'Perfect, you did a good job.'
'Well, I wanted to help with the core, but didn't have the time.'
'So you trusted me to reach the next Rank?'
'Don't even start.'
Smiling to himself, he grabbed another snack from the nearby tray and stared outside. He hadn't checked out the place yet, but seeing the light red sky, the lands that stretched endlessly, but had not a speck of green surprised him.
Even in the Underground, there was some kind of plant life, although warped, it functioned properly. But all Lucas saw here were dark-colored houses in the distance and a black earth. Only on the horizon did the ground seem to change to a diluted red.
"You have no plan, do you?", Lucas spoke mostly to himself, since he himself was simply following Asta, not having any idea where he even remotely was.
His buddy, who was now sitting on the bed, laid down for a second. "Correct. I only have a few ideas, but a concrete plan never existed in the first place. I just had to have my servants believe in me to keep their loyalty."
"That's not true. Bell is contracted, Trane on the other hand."
"Correct, he'll relay all the things he saw to my father."
"I see. So we can only trust Bell in this case?"
"Yes, I gave her directives to never reveal information about me to my father, or at least nothing true."
"So, this favor you wanted, to defeat your siblings in a fair manner without killing them. Truly, this is an insane ask."
Asta nodded in response, "I am aware that we will most likely not succeed."
"In case we win, how are you going to repay that?"
"I have my methods. For now, I want to explain what we're up against."
Lucas looked away from the outside and sat on a chair. Nodding towards Asta, he explained some basic details about the world before talking about his siblings.
"I have a total of 7 siblings, who, not fully related by blood, are all aiming for the seat of my father. The competition for the throne allows anyone who is family to fight for it. Who is chosen is not by democratic ruling. Every candidate gets a coin made from Demonic Ore, extremely difficult to reforge or break."
"So you have to fight over these coins?"
"Correct, there are only so many given out with unique numbers on them, so forget about replicating them. If you want to get more, you have to get them from your siblings."
"I assume anything goes."
"Except blatantly stealing, everything else is permitted."
"But you want to win without bloodshed?"
"Not exactly, I don't mind if we kill their subordinates and the what-like. Just the siblings should be spared."
Lucas continued to snack on the cookies that were displayed on the plate. Thoughts flowed through his mind, smoother than he expected, plans started to form as fast as they were scrapped. To Lucas, if he was able to formulate plans faster when he breached through Rank 3, it meant all the others had the same advantage.
Simple plans wouldn't cut it anymore.
"How bad is it?"
It was a simple question, not one posed out of fear of what was to come, no, they didn't work like that. Back on Aurora, they were up against forces far above their capabilities, yet it was them who fell in the end.
"There are only two that deserve attention. My eldest brother and sister, both Rank 4. The others are at our level. My eldest brother is most likely the easier target, because he values intellect more than power."
"So we trick him into a battle of wits instead of a fight?"
"Yes, I had an idea for him, my sister, on the other hand, will be a problem. She values strength above all."
"Then we take her down. It wouldn't be the first time going up against an impossible challenge."
"Hah! Yes. Given the time, we would most likely find something, but we'll have to hurry it up. In a few years time, the succession ceremony will take place."
"You're saying we only got a few years?"
"Two, to be exact."
"Tch. You're not making this easy."
"I never said it would be easy, it's a favor for a reason."
"Fine. What's the current situation? If we start making moves, currents will form, and I don't want to face a high tide."
Asta nodded to himself. "Nobody has made any moves yet, not because they didn't want to, but because my father forbade it. Only when I returned from my travels, a big banquet would be held and the games can begin after that night."
"Being so specific, did he predict they would be poisoning the drinks?"
"There are skilled magicians present that will check all consumable items, so that won't be the case. It's more of an insurance that everyone starts at the same time."
"I guess that gives us a little more chance of victory."
Hearing Lucas say that, Asta took a second to think things through. While he was right in a certain sense, the gravitas he said it with didn't sit right with him.
They were up against mages, yes, they were powerful, yes, but that didn't mean a lot. Trying to process how Lucas felt, he suddenly realized.
"They are not as smart as you think."
"What are you talking about?"
"My siblings are about my age or a few years older, only my older brother is a bit more than a decade older than me."
"And?"
"It means we are going up against people that are mostly dumber than us," the sheer amount of arrogance in that statement would make many turn red with anger, but Asta meant it wholeheartedly.
Both of them had spent their entire lifetimes working and training as hard as they could, while many others wasted their time with leisure activities. Hell, both of them rarely slept since it reduced the amount of studying or training.
"Being old doesn't make one instantly more intelligent, the biggest thing we should be looking out for isn't their individual strength, but their defenses. I'm from the main bloodline, but the others are from concubines and bastard children."
"Yet they are recognized?"
"Why wouldn't they be? In Sabaoth, strength is the biggest qualifier, the rest is background noise."
"At least it's a less hypocritical system than what Frigus had."
"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions. I don't have time to explain it now, sadly, let's leave."
"Why?"
"The banquet will start in a few moments."
"Already?! I've barely thought of something, I don't even know their names."
"You'll learn all that you need to know when we face them. Also, pay attention to not only the candidates, but their guardians, those are the biggest danger right now."
Lucas shook his head. "This is getting ridiculous, how do you expect me to create a plan so quickly against so many people while barely having any information to work with. You're a slave driver!"
Asta stared at Lucas and grinned, "Then why are you smiling so much?"