After a while, the deed was done. Jarius was done issuing the challenge out on the scroll and stamping it with his seal.

He handed it over to Aiden

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Aiden said with a mocking smile as he took the scroll from the King's hand and made it disappear into his Inventory.

Then Jarius said to him, "Even if you cause my untimely demise, do you think Oberon will let simply let you or any other Crowley live? Any person attempting to usurp my position will do the same thing, take the life of everyone he considers a threat"

"Oh that is all within my expectation." Aiden replied, stretching both hands to the side theatrically. "If anything, Should you not be worried about him instead? Or has it not occurred to you that I just bested the lot of you in this room?"

You could see the vexed look on the faces of the captains as Aiden made that statement, with some of them tightening their fists.

Aiden glanced at them amusingly, and then turned to leave when suddenly the Doors leading into the throne room was pushed open.

Lysandra hurriedly made her way in and to her greatest surprise, she saw Aiden who looked almost as surprised to see her.

"Brother…" she said, walking forward with her face slowly taking a gleeful expression.

Aiden smiled back genuinely, it felt really good seeing Lysandra again, however his work here was done.

He snapped his fingers and the Captain he banished using his space skill, suddenly reappeared mid air and fell onto the meeting table.

Aiden then instantly vanished out of sight without staying to exchange any further pleasantries with Lysandra.

Seeing Aiden suddenly disappear like that left her with widened eyes and in total disbelief that she doubted what she just saw.

Then she turned towards her father and the captains who all looked distraught by the outcome of events. Greyfus was still reeling from the pain of falling onto the table.

Aiden whom they were sure had no magic, was not just at a level higher than everyone within that room. He had made a mockery of them all.

Lysandra then walked much closer towards them with a confused, yet worried look, "Father… what happened?"

Jarius turned towards the Captains, "We'll reconvene in three hours"

They all bowed respectfully and one by one they left the hall. Frankly they needed the break too, to organize their thoughts and all before proceeding with the meeting.

Then Jarius turned back to Lysandra to explain everything that just happened.

…

The meeting on the side of Xathia had also come to an end, and the captains and asuras started to proceed out.

Selene stared at Katherine with a disgusted look on her face and for a long moment as she made her way out of throne room.

"Tsk" she clicked her tongue in frustration.

…

Aiden made a reappearance back in his pocket domain.

"Well, that was, intense" He muttered to himself, then his lips curled into a smirk and afterwards into sarcastic laughter that ran for a moment

Syra's spirit slowly took form to his side, with a smile on her face as she watched.

Aiden turned towards her and said, "Did you see their bloody faces?" He laughed a bit more and was practically in tears too, "they couldn't believe it when shat in their faces like that!"

Syra nodded in amusement as she watched him reel in joy. "You should still prepare for all eventualities. "

Aiden nodded affirmatively and afterwards made an avatar. He then gave the avatar the scroll holding the King's challenge.

The avatar nodded, and Aiden snapped his fingers, sending the avatar away from his pocket domain with the task to hand that scroll over to Thamoryn.

Later on, Aiden warped out of his Pocket Domain, materializing in his room at Ravens Grave. The moment he stepped back into reality, his Dragon's Sense reacted immediately.

The passive ability had developed a supernatural awareness of his surroundings ever since becoming a Wyrm. His senses stretched far beyond the guild walls, beyond the Academy grounds, all the way to the city gates.

Aiden had become aware of thousands soldiers camped at the entrance to Xathia's main city.

This prompted him to turn that direction and use his dragon's sight to penetrate all the way through so that he could see them alot more appropriately.

"Zahkans?" Aiden sighed, he figured that they were most likely part of the war. Which made perfect sense especially as Jarius had killed their Ruler.

Aiden took a breath, steadying himself, then stepped out of his room and into the corridor leading downstairs to the main guild room.

That's when he nearly walked straight into Laela.

"Aiden!" She looked startled, then her expression shifted to something between relief and frustration. "Where have you been?"

"I…" Aiden started, then stopped. "I'm sorry."

Laela crossed her arms, her eyes searching his face. "You've been absent for days. Every time I try to find you, you're just… gone. And when you are here, you act out of place."

Her voice softened. "What's really going on?"

Aiden looked at her, at the concern in her eyes, and felt some tightness in his chest.

How could he tell her about Arianna or about the fact that he was losing his humanity.

"I've been preparing," he said finally. "For what's coming. The war, Laela. It's almost here, and I needed to make sure I was ready."

"Ready for what?" she asked quietly. "Aiden, you're already the strongest mage in the guild. Probably in the whole Academy. What more do you need to prepare?"

"It's not about being strong enough," Aiden replied. "It's about being smart enough to end this without everyone I care about dying."

Laela's expression softened completely. She reached out and touched his arm. "Just… don't shut us out. Don't shut me out. Whatever you're dealing with, we can face it together."

Aiden placed his hand over hers briefly. "I know. And I'm sorry. I won't disappear like that again."

She smiled, though worry still lingered in her eyes. "Good. Because I was starting to think you were avoiding me specifically."

"Never," Aiden said, meaning it.

They stood there for a moment longer, then Laela nodded toward the stairs. "Come on. Everyone's downstairs. They'll want to know you're back."

Everyone in the guild had actually paid attention to Aiden's absence and it made them to an extent.

Aiden nodded and followed her down the corridor toward the main guild room.

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