Here it comes.’ Thought Viran as Gregory’s fist once more reaches his face.

 

Ever since Gregory realized no one would stop him, he had mistakenly thought he would be invincible from all repercussions and decided to beat Viran nonstop in front of the servants. Viran’s face had gone numb ever since the 5th punch, and he believed that Gregory was on his 12th or 13th punch. It was hard to keep count when blood covered the entirety of your face. 

 

“Blat!” A crisp sound rings out as another punch hits Viran head on.

 

Gregory’s fist itself was covered in blood, but not all of it was Viran’s. His fist had bled in many places due to the exertion he had placed upon it by punching Viran so many times. The left side of Viran’s face was already covered in cuts and wounds, blood was covering the entirety of his face. It even seemed that if Gregory put in just a little more effort, he could crack open Viran’s skull or put a dent in it.

 

By the time the 16th punch was about to land, a hand gripped the shoulder of Gregory. Angry at the thought of being stopped Gregory was prepared to land a punch on whoever was insolent enough to stop him, but stopped midway upon realizing the hand belonged to none other hand Spion.

 

“S-sir Spion. Hello.” A quaky voice leaked out of Gregory.

 

“Don’t say hello like that. Come with me.” Spion puts his mouth closer to Gregory and whispers. “You’ve fucked yourself over already.”

 

Gregory’s visage crumbles within a second of hearing those ominous words of Spion. Looking towards the servants once more, he sees that the crowd had already doubled in size from before. Gregory realizes his mistake in a second, upon looking at the gazes that were put upon him. His body turned cold when staring back, the gazes had barely changed from when he looked at them before. But now that he has come to his senses, he realizes the misdeed he had done in the heat of the moment.

 

The plan was to begin by punching Viran until he was down on the ground… But what he had really done with torture his brother in front of all of the servants of the estate. Though in reality they cannot do anything about it, rumors were always a deadly thing for Noble Houses. Now that Gregory was deemed the heir of the House, which servant or Knight would wish to serve a liege that had almost killed their brother? For no explicable reason at that? Fratricide had been taboo ingrained in the culture of the Empire for many years now, though even that taboo still hasn’t stopped many people from killing their own brothers. 

 

“How… How much have they seen.” Gregory asks with an afraid voice.

 

“Almost all of it… I don’t think you will be able to escape punishment from Lord Idicium. He has to… Rumors will surely spread about what has occurred here.” A sigh escapes Spion’s mouth as he continues. “I cannot protect you at this moment. But rest assured, this is not the end.”

 

The blazing nerves in Gregory’s body cooled to a certain degree when hearing these words, he had hoped dearly that what he had done wouldn’t have any repercussions with the previous agreement he had made with his teacher. What they were planning was incredibly dangerous, and were their intentions to become known by the Lord it was likely Spion would lose more than his job.

 

They understand well enough that Lord Idicium had little care for Viran, but that wouldn’t stop the Lord from protecting him. As the most powerful Noble House in the South Lord Idicium had a duty to preserve the reputation and pedigree of the House by all means. Having one of your children being bullied by their own family was one thing, but if a mere servant got off easily after disrespecting the Noble blood that dwelled within Viran, the trust that the House had painstakingly fought for will wane due to the distrust of the smaller houses surrounding them.

 

A slight discomfort ran through the mind of Spion, he felt he was being watched. Slowly turning his head backwards to look towards the crowd that had already gathered around Viran he can see a wrinkly face staring back directly into his eyes. Sir Leonard’s eyes had an inquisitive glint in his eye as he looked back and forth between the figures of Gregory and Spion. A sigh breaks out of Sir Leonard as he thinks about what had taken place.

 

He had gotten to the Viran beatdown viewing early and was able to see the punch that infuriated Gregory to a large extent… Sir Leonard enjoyed the thought that Viran was actually able to fight back, even if only a little. But his thoughts made quite the turn when he watched the next events unfold before him.

 

The sheer brutality shown by Gregory at such an age caused a shiver down his spine, worse yet Sir Leonard could feel trace amounts of mana being used with more being added with every punch. This was a common occurrence in the magic community, situations where emotions run high a spell will unconsciously be formed. This would usually be seen as a good thing, but Sir Leonard cannot help but shake his head at a situation like this. Gregory had made a spell that made his arm strength explode significantly, but the wrath that he used to make this spell was shunned by Sir Leonard.

 

Were Gregory to strike just a little harder or in the wrong spot, Viran would have died.

 

Sir Leonard’s mind had ingrained the image of Gregory’s bleeding fists still dripping blood as he walked away with Spion. He cannot help but feel disgusted by Gregory. He could not see a situation where Gregory almost committing murder on his own brother would be justified.

 

Sir Leonard’s eyes dwell on the bloodied face of Viran. His looks were now distorted with blood and bruising. His eyes were puffed up and purple with solid lines of cuts running over his eyelids. Blood was already piling high on his bare eyeball alongside solid clumps of dirt. His nose was now crooked directly in an arc to the right with a large cut over his left nostril, blood and mucus seeped through every cut made on his face. Looking up close, Sir Leonard could even see teeth missing, it was likely that Viran had swallowed the broken teeth by accident as he was battered with the barrage of punches.

 

Sir Leonard bit his lip as his features contort in worry. The spells he had gained over his long life were all mostly suited for support, but the one thing he lacked the most was a proper healing spell. Sir Leonard hurriedly kneeled by the side of Viran and put his hands only a few inches away from the face of Viran.

 

“Healing hand.” The aged voice spoke.

 

A blue light emitted from the wrinkled hands and quickly began to wash over the entire body of Viran. The burn marks that were placed on him began to disappear at an astonishing rate and the shallow cuts washed away from the rest of his body.

 

His face remained almost completely the same, the full extent of the healing hand was more to erase the pain of an individual and less about healing the patient. Sir Leonard’s panic rose as he saw the null effect of his spell.

 

Rising to his feet he quickly pointed his hand down at Viran as blue mana enveloped his body once more, this time not a word was uttered.

 

The blue mana slowly lifted Viran up in a careful manner. With this, Sir Leonard began to walk fast away from the training field and towards the center of the estate and Viran’s body followed close behind. 

 

From the little sense of touch Viran had left, he could feel a warm sensation from being in contact with the mana wrapping around his entire body. The pain had already subsided from his entire body, though it was more like he couldn’t feel almost anything at all. His eyes open to reveal a crimson tint to his surroundings. The blood from his wounds were still clinging closely to his eyeballs and he was unable to tell that he was floating through the air.

 

The crowd behind the two began to discuss in an anxious manner of the events that had just unfolded.

 

“D-did you see that… Lord Gregory had seen us viewing him hurting his own brother- and- and he smiled!” The anxious tremble of a woman’s voice spoke.

 

“I didn’t think Lord Viran’s life here at the manner could get much worse. I kind of… Feel bad.” The hushed murmur of an elderly man spoke to his son.

 

“Oh gosh I think the kids saw this happen too. Someone needs to go talk to them.” A young man rushes off towards the servants quarters.

 

The crowd of servants were in an anxious buzz as he did not know how to comprehend the situation that had just unfolded. The servants that had witnessed the most relayed what they had seen to their fellow servants, but that only brought up more confusion in the group.

 

No one knew why the normally childish Gregory had acted this way.

 

Even then rumors had begun to spread into the capital city of Arx and abroad into the many fiefs and lands of bordering nobles. In a matter of weeks the entirety of the South had already heard the rumors circulating about the tragic beating of Viran, and his situation as the unfavored son of the Idicium Family. 

 

In a matter of the months the rumors begin to branch out further and further. The truth became distorted. Some say that the Idicium boy was murdered in a frenzy, some say that the Idicium boy was afflicted by a curse and went into a frenzy, and some say that Lord Idicium himself had sparked the conflict. These rumors would reach the differing and squabbling factions of the Fortunis Empire, including the feared Emperor of the lands. 

 

Whether or not these rumors were purposefully distorted and spread is unknown.

 

As these rumors took place the competing factions took notice of the messengers leaving and entering the Idicium Estate in droves. A banquet was called for the Nobles inhabiting the Southern Domain of the Empire, taking place over the course of the Week of Unity.

 

Trouble was brewing in the Empire, and the future remained dim in the bloodied eyes of Viran. As his eyes close once more and he falls into a deep sleep, a sudden inspiration strikes his very being. The one-sided fight he had just experienced, did have a bright side to it.