Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Thankfully the casualties were almost exclusively Marked Ones; however, the horror of the action was so sudden and terrifying that it had the military\'s leadership scrambling for an explanation.

After piecing together a series of eyewitness reports and correlating that information with the soldiers\' known skill sets on the field, they were able to narrow it down to a single teenage boy, Lucius, a boy with an unknown mark from Pelith.

The boy\'s name had been floating through noble circles at the time because of a romantic relationship he had with the daughter of Richard von Petra. It was such a scandal that nearly half of the Union had heard of it within a week of the relationship\'s discovery. So, when Voltara heard that same boy was a deceptively powerful and clever fighter.

She heard about his execution and said nothing about it, thinking it was only just given how much of a harmful element he was to their military. On top of that, Richard seemed all too happy to rid his family of a thorn that had festered in their side.

What it turned out they had done was attempt to murder the same boy who they were warned not to betray. The heir to the House of Kane…

"Shit…" she breathed out. Though the wine in her cup was a fine vintage, she was in such a state that she likely could not have told it apart from cheap swill served at a whorehouse.

On her desk was a collection of reports and mission orders that would be left unfinished. The moment that she was free, she ordered her agents to cancel all operations related to searching for information on Titan. Voltara also had to field requests from other nobles who wanted to look into Lucius Kane\'s Origins.

All of those requests would be rejected until the leaders of the Five Kings Union gathered together to determine the next steps. The question on all of their minds in the meantime: had they already fallen on their swords? If they did, then why wait for death to come when they could fight against it? However, if they were still safe, then… it would be best to play nicely.

*****

Rubellia heard a knock at the door of the home she had lived in for many years in the past with her husband and son. When Wayne was killed, she and Lucius moved into the Petra family manor, and the home was taken back into Lord Petra\'s possession. During that time they were living in the manor, no one else had moved into the small cottage.

Thanks to that, when she moved back into the cottage after Lucius\'s death, not much had changed. It was as much nice as it was painful to be back in the home. Every room reminded her of years long gone. However, after Lucius\'s death, she was not sure that she would be able to work in the manor anymore, or at least not without the urge to commit a horrible crime against Richard von Petra.

The knocking on the door had increased in speed by the time she made it to open the door. Standing there was a strange figure in black leather armor with a fabric face covering. They wore a hood over their head as well, but it did nothing to hide the animal-like ears atop their head.

"Are you Miss Rubellia?"

"I am, who is asking?"

"My Commander, Titan of the King\'s Shadow, requests your presence in the kingdom\'s capital."

"Titan? King\'s Shadow? What are you on about?" she asked the person. None of the things the person had said made any sense to her, but the tone of their voice made it sound like it was urgent.

"Ma\'am, I hate to rush you, but we must leave soon. We will accompany you to the capital and keep you safe, but if we fail to leave on time, then we might run into… complications," the man said while glancing down the path back to Pelith.

"But who are you? Who is this \'Titan\' person?"

"Miss Rubellia… the Commander asked that I show you this if you are hesitant…"

Rubellia was unable to hold in the loud gasp that escaped her lips when she saw a familiar necklace being held out in front of her face. It was a simple strap with a pendant shaped like a deer made out of Alpha Deer antler. It had been more than four years since she last saw it, and it was hanging around her son\'s neck.

"I can\'t say much more. But I will return this keepsake to you so you can give it to it\'s rightful owner, but we have to leave now."

The man\'s voice was frantic. A lot of things were not adding up, however enough of the right things were. The necklace, the fact the person was clearly a beastman… it had to be Lucius… right?

As she stuttered to respond, the beastman\'s ears twitched, and he looked towards the woods. Rubellia stepped outside and looked in the same direction. She could not hear anything, but she felt a sickening presence and a familiar scent outside her home. It was the smell of monster bait that her husband used to make for trips into the woods. Someone was trying to lure something to her home.

"Okay." She answered, grabbing the stranger\'s hand. He quickly draped a cloak around her and picked her up in a princess carry. "I apologize for the rude behavior, but we need to go quickly. Whatever you do… please don\'t tell the Commander I did this when you see him…"

"[Lux: Enhanced Speed]"

Light enveloped the man\'s body, and he took off as quick as an arrow away from her home. She did not have time to gather anything from the place, but as he had warned, there was no time. When she looked back and was about to ask for a little more time, she saw a massive creature step out of the forest.

The monster was nearly three times the size of a bear and had massive fangs that were too large to fit in its mouth. From some angles, the creature might have resembled a pig, but the massive muscles and hulking form cast a fair amount of doubt on that presumption. Thanks to her late husband\'s penchant for sharing knowledge, she was able to recognize it as a Fanged Boar immediately.

They were supposed to be rare monsters and were considered B to A-Rank beasts, depending on their size.

The Fanged Boar charged at her home, attracted to the bait that someone had scattered around the outside. Wood splintered and sprayed into the air as the monster rooted through the land around the house and the house itself, seeking the substance that called it out of the woods.

Had she been inside, Rubellia would have been dead from the initial charge. Someone tried to kill her, and were it not for this strange man, they would have succeeded.