Red was nervous to see his mother, even though he had just stopped an assassination attempt against a noble, she was sure to scold him for leaving his home in the middle of the night. Red's worry could be seen on his face.
"You really are a mama's boy aren't you?" Kitty playfully teased Red. Red looked at her. "Don't pretend it's not true, I can see how worried you look." Red decided to take advantage of the moment and feigned weakness. He proceeded to put his arm around Kitty's shoulders. Kitty let out a whimper. "Sorry Kitty. I haven't used mana in so long, I guess I accidentally overexerted myself." Red said this with a sincere expression, gazing into Kitty's eyes.
"Okay fine, I guess it is my duty to take on your burdens, I'll help you walk to the castle. But that's it." Kitty's words and the look on her face differed greatly. "I guess I should help you too Red, you do have two arms after all." Rosalina put Red's other arm over her shoulders. Red blushed when she did this, and Kitty pinched Red. "Owww! Why?" Red hated getting pinched. "I was just making sure you didn't get any drool over Rose." Kitty had done this out of jealousy. "I'm not drooling!" Red denied this vehemently while Rosalina giggled.
"Could you three stop flirting for just a moment?" Azure said exasperated with the display, he was still being carried on a sick bed. "I guess you're up, have you settled down?" Red looked back at Azure, he was honestly surprised that he had woken up so quickly. He's one of the Four Kings after all. "You beat me, there's nothing else I can say." Azure responded, he wasn't the type of guy to whine about losing fairly. "I do expect you to behave around my sister, me having lost doesn't change that."
"Red has behaved in an exemplary manner if anything, he even saved my life you know." Rosalina was incredibly impressed by Red, plus what she said was true. Red did save her. "Oh please, I hardly feel like flirting with two young noblewoman at once makes one a heroic individual." Azure said this, knowing full well Rosalina had already fallen head over heels for the prince. "Who's flirting?" Kitty had decided to ask this question out of embarrassment. Everyone present except for Red and Rosalina looked at her with disbelief.
"I must admit lord Azure, for you to already be conscious after such a destructive battle with the prince is quite impressive." Dominic had feared the worst when he saw the massive hole Azure had left after being sent flying by Red. But to his surprise Azure was merely knocked unconscious needing only minimal healing. "I managed to lessen the impact with wind mana, but it didn't amount to much." Azure had been thoroughly overwhelmed by Red's Meteoric Bull. Nevertheless, being able to survive the attack from Red had earned him some respect in Uruz.
"What the hell even was that spell? What type of mana did you use?" Azure had never seen mana look so vivid before, and the blue tint displayed from the spell intrigued him. "Oh that? It's nothing fancy, just pure mana." Red said this while staring straight ahead. "Pure mana!? Do you mean mana without an element!?" Azure had never even heard that was possible. Everyone present was also curious. "My lord learned how to wield pure mana from his master." Christopher had sparred with Red many times, so he knew what spell Azure referred too.
"Pure mana lacks an element as you said lord Azure..." "There's no need to call me lord, you're only a year younger than me, besides you outrank me both in strength and position." "Very well then, Azure. Pure mana lacks an element so it doesn't have any of the benefits of the elements. It's much harder to use it for a boost of speed such as with wind magic." Red had garnered the attention of everyone in the group.
"Why use it then?" Rosalina stared directly at Red while asking him this. With a blush he continued. "Despite it not having any benefits, it also doesn't have the weaknesses of the elements. This means that a skilled user of pure mana can fight against any element or spell." Everyone looked at Red, realizing how powerful pure mana could be.
"Take that guy Leonorio's spell for example, if I had attacked him with wind I would have had to exert a much greater force than his mana capability to harm him. I used lightning to take him out easily, and this was possible due to the fact that lightning ranks higher than wind in the elemental power scale. With pure mana however, I would have suffered no detriment with hitting the spell head on. Even if the damage can be lessened such as in Azure's case, most people would be utterly stumped when it came to dealing with a spell of the type."
Dominic had started crying once more, Rosalina and Kitty stared at Red intently, and both Azure and Christopher asked at the same time: "Why is it blue?" Both of them had been been the victim of his spells, Azure less than an hour ago, and Christopher many times over the years. "That's because of my soul, midnight blue is the color of my soul." Azure looked at him skeptically. "What does your soul have to do with anything?" Red simply said: "I know I know my stuff, but there are some things even I don't know." After this the group walked silently to the castle, the knights wondering if they even should have been allowed to listen to the conversation.
"There's the runaway, you really should grow out of such habits my son. Happy Birthday!!" Alice scolded red for nary a moment, she felt she had to at least tease him for what he had done, but she felt it was better to congratulate him. "Thanks mom." Red accepted the congratulations, but he hated his birthday so it made him feel conflicted. "Red, it's your birthday today?! I'm so sorry I didn't realize, I would have gotten you something!" Rosalina had been mortified to find out that she had once again missed Red's birthday. "You don't have to worry Rose, the fact that you even thought of me warms my heart." Red said this while looking at Rosalina's eyes, making her swoon.
"Damn brat!" Alice had realized the difference in their treatment instantly. "What did I do?" Red asked with a serious countenance, but he knew what he had done. "Whatever, there are important matters to discuss." Alice said this knowing that arguing with Red much like arguing with her husband was usually a lengthy ordeal.
"I heard you were also attacked mom." Red asked this in order to get to the heart of the matter. "Yes, the assassins were posing as guards. From what Sybil told me, those guards had been her servants for a couple years. This can only mean that this attack was preemptive, having been planned for years." Alice said this to those present that being Red, Kitty, Christopher, Dominic, Azure, and Rosalina. Everyone else had been told to leave the castle, Alice feared leaking any of the information they had gathered.
"Do you think its that imbecile of a king and his useless son?" Red was referring to the king and the crown prince of the city of Asterion where Azure and Rosalina lived. "That's what I thought too. It's no secret that they hold a grudge against us." Alice had suspected that that swine and his son were the one's who had hatched this plot.
"Why do the king and prince hold a grudge against you?" Azure had never heard that Uruz and Asterion had a rivalry. "It started a long time ago, that foolish king and my dad have apparently been battling against each other since they were my age. My dad would of course beat him to a pulp each time they clashed. Despite Asterion being over 100 years old, my dad was able to found the kingdom of Uruz which is twice the size of Asterion in less than 20 years. He did have help from the various nobles in town including my mom's family, but ultimately this accomplishment cemented him as a much more recognized king than that imbecile."
Azure could only nod, it was a fact that Uruz's king was known far and wide as a powerful man who basically founded a kingdom over night. While the king of Asterion Oscar Meri Won, was known as a schemer that could barely even run his own city.
"This rivalry however, reached a point of no return 3 years ago, that dumbass prince Adrian, had been talking his ass off all night during my birthday party mind you, about how he was actually much more talented than anyone in Uruz. The guy was already my age at the time, so you can imagine how much that pissed me off. I called him an untalented loser, while also praising the fact that he had a lot of bravery to wear such rags to a prince's birthday party."
"So this was your fault?" Azure looked at Red having already experienced how annoying he could be. Christopher and Kitty followed suit.
"How about you guys let me finish the story before you judge me!!!" Red felt justified in wanting to finish his story.
"Anyway, this resulted in that loser Adrian asking for a duel, and after thinking for a while, I had my brother Gray duel him. He was only eleven at the time, so you can imagine how humiliating it was for the royal family of Asterion when Gray absolutely demolished him." "Hahahahahaahaha!" "He even pissed himself kahahaa!" Red couldn't contain his laughter, this was one of his favorite memories after all.
"So it was your fault after all!!!!!" Christopher, Kitty, Azure, and even Rosalina shouted this out, knowing that all their trouble today had most likely come from Red having his little brother beat up a prince for the fun of it.