Chapter 8 – The Twin Demons

“Commander Elias, the army is ready!”

A lone silhouette stood at the edge of the cliff, as he stared down at the multitude of masses stationed below the cliff. With his dark red hair fluttering in the wind, the expression on the man’s face was one of calm and absolute authority.

Wearing a dark blood-red armor, the man was an imposing figure as he stood on that cliff.

A soldier was currently kneeling behind the red-haired man, as he patiently waited for further commands from his Commander.

“Where is Marcus?”

Elias asked the soldier without turning around.

Faced with this question, the soldier let out a faint smile. Although the soldier could not see Elias’s face, there was also a hint of amusement in Elias’s expression when he asked this question to the soldier.

“The prince is… well, uh…. contained by the… *ehem* female soldiers.”

The soldier hesitantly replied with a red face, as it was mostly his squad’s female elementalists that were the ones who were pestering the prince.

Elias could not contain himself anymore and burst out in a belly full of laughter.

“Hahaha, that kid! No matter where we go, he still has his female followers pestering him. Anyways, this will lighten the mood before we set out for the first battle, so it’s fine. Marcus needs to solve this problem on his own, otherwise, once he gets married, I’m afraid his wife will leave him after the first day!”

Seeing the Commander himself laugh, the soldier let out a grin as well. He knew how popular the Prince was with the ladies of the court, and that seemed to extend to all young females of the kingdom.

At the age of sixteen years old, with milky-white skin and raven-black hair, along with his dark emerald eyes, Marcus was more of a beautiful male than handsome.

Combined with his compassionate personality and amiable attitude towards others, Marcus found it difficult to directly reject any female’s advances.

*step* *step*

Hearing the soft footsteps, both men turned around to look at the newcomer.

Seeing who it was, the soldier quickly saluted Elias and returned back to his post. He knew that these two powerful men would like to be in private, so he swiftly departed.

“It appears that wherever we go, carnage and bloodshed seems to follow us, old friend.”

The newcomer stated as he continued to slowly walk towards the cliff where Elias was standing.

The newcomer had dark purple hair mixed with strands of grey, and eyes the color of black jade. With a thin face, he had a sharp jawline and excluded an aura that was no less authoritative than Elias.

He was also equally as tall as Elias but lacked the muscular structure of his friend.

In response to his friend, Elias simply looked towards the sky and said.

“This war feels different, Solin. Our enemy this time is the Kingdom of Gastron, but we’ve always been on peaceful terms with them, so why did they suddenly declare war on us? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Elias did not feel the need to hide anything from Solin, as he was his closest friend since childhood and they had both fought together in countless battles.

“What does your brother say about this?”

Solin inquired as he wrinkled his eyebrows.

“My brother is suspicious as well, but as the King, no matter how false of a threat, he has to send an army to defend our Kingdom of Xuria and its people. He fears that someone is trying to cause unrest in Xuria, but without any proof, he does not dare to accuse any of the Nobles.”

Elias solemnly responded as he gazed at the horizon.

It was not surprising that in a world dominated by power, even Kings had to be wary of their subjects, as the moment they showed weakness, was the moment they would be overthrown. It was well known that familial lineage was integral in determining the nature of both one’s element and the degree of talent they would have in cultivating it. That was why as a general rule most Royal families had many geniuses under their care.

Solin silently stood next to Elias without saying a single word, and simply waited for his friend to finish pondering within his thoughts.

Solin was the son of a servant working in the Royal Palace, and would usually play by himself in the courtyard, when one day, a red-haired boy suddenly approached him.

The red-haired boy had a large grin on his face as he cheerfully introduced himself to Solin. Although Solin had been wary of the boy’s noble status, it soon became apparent that the red-haired boy did not care about Solin’s background.

Once Solin awakened to his element, it was discovered that he had an extremely high talent in cultivating, despite his commoner blood. So, Elias begged his father, the King at that time, to allow Solin to train in the cultivation techniques of the family.

Usually, when faced with such a request, the King would have denied it even if it was his son asking him, but with Solin’s talent in the Wind element, he knew that his son would have a powerful companion once they grew up.

Soon, the two boys developed an unbreakable bond and entered the Royal Army together.

As such, many years had passed with countless battles and skirmishes, which led these two men to stand here. They were the true geniuses of their Kingdom and with the strength to back it, they soon became one of the most feared duo in the Royal Army!

………….

“Uncle! So this is where you were. I looking all over the barracks for you!”

Hearing the melodious voice of his nephew, Elias broke free from his daze and turned around to face Marcus with a large grin on his face.

Solin similarly gave a faint smile at the spectacle in front of him.

“The barracks are only so small, and you should have been out of them after a few minutes, so I wonder what could have kept you there for so long?”

Elias inquired with an amused tone, as he raised a single eyebrow.

Marcus’s face suddenly turned bright red, and he stumbled on how to respond back to his Uncle.

Seeing the blushing Marcus, Elias decided to stop his teasing for the moment. He was glad that his nephew still had the innocence of youth and not the mindset of a power hungry cultivator.

He would have kept his nephew away from this war, but his brother wished for his son to experience the brutality of war. Otherwise, Marcus would never have that ruthlessness and would be devoured by the nobles in the Royal Palace.

“Hahaha, I was just teasing you, kid. Just remember to stay on the other side and just observe the battle. There is no need for you to get involved, as you are still in the Spiritual stage. Make sure to stay safe, and I will also dispatch a contingent of guards for you.”

Elias chuckled as he patted Marcus on his shoulder.

“Uncle, I would like to fight as well.”

With this one sentence, Marcus’s entire demeanor changed.

While everyone would think of him to be a shy youth who would often get harassed by girls; however, within the boy ran the blood of the Royal Family, so how could he not have the same power as the rest of his family?

Although he was only sixteen years of age, he was already at the ninth rank of the Spiritual stage with half a foot entering the Vajra stage. He was almost at the point of breakthrough, and if not for the war suddenly spreading across the kingdoms, then Marcus would be currently training to break into the Vajra stage.

“Sigh… Marcus, I know exactly how strong you are and I’m sure that none of the elite soldiers here would even be a match for you, but you’re still the prince! The future of this kingdom is within your hands, and unless absolutely required, you should not carelessly charge into battle. You still haven’t mastered our family’s legacy, so just observe for now. Is that understood?”

Hearing the stern voice of Elias who had drilled Martial Arts into him, Marcus nodded instinctively and bowed his head in acceptance.

A loud horn abruptly sounded in the air as it startled everyone.

“Elias, it is time.”

Solin quietly whispered next to Elias.

“I think the world has forgotten who the Twin Demons are… ”

Elias muttered, a savage grin spread across his face.