"No! You aren't getting seconds." Keith declared adamantly to Felix who hissed at him. After exchanging further details ,both departed for their rooms when something suddenly struck in Keith's head.

"Hey Felix! You said something about Regalius back then? "

"Yes"

"But didn't you say that Venefics don't have concept of names." Felix 's feet stood uprooted to his ground in shock.

" It seemed he just might be bit brighter than I gave him credit for ." He smiled. "Oh! That. I lied to throw you off back then since I didn't want to give my name to you."

"What! Then Felix isn't your real name?" Keith pouted.

"Of course not. I will only tell you my name when I deem you worthy enough ." He patted his head sarcastically at which the latter just sighed .

"Fine! Well I can inform royal house of name though . We have been calling him always "The man" for so many centuries , it is kinda boorish really."

"Indeed! If you must. For.." Amidst their conversation , a girl swung her arms around Keith with such alacrity that Felix couldn't even register until it had happened.

"Hey! Did you miss me , Prince?:" A sweet voice emanated from the brown haired creature as she gazed at Keith who tilted his head in confusion.

"It is obvious that he doesn't know you. What are you trying to pull here, clingy creature? Plus you should really not be so blunt with his identity here .We are in enemy territory after all." Felix shook her arm away from Keith's neck glaring.

"I am talking to him, not you foul vermin." She glared back.

"Vermin you say? Would you like a taste of my venom then, weakling?" Felix's eyes faded into a lifeless stare.

"Cut it out, you two. We can discuss it all peacefully in room without any prying eyes." Keith commanded.

"Indeed." Both agreed following him with wary glances at each other.

"Luna Selvester." She disclosed her identity on being asked by Keith at which Felix glanced at him for explanation.

"Selvesters are one of the three noble houses who are most close to royal family.. When Chrome V was reigning, he married into their family and soon their prominence grew over centuries. As you know our kingdom is named so too, as embodiment of their great importance " Keith explained.

"So she is noble brat I see. Quite bland in her looks , won't you say though as if just here to present contrast to vast richness of her house." Felix chuckled at which Luna gritted her teeth.

"You watch your tongue, vile creature."

"What are you doing here, Miss Luna?" Keith enquired ignoring their tussle.

"Please call me Luna only, your highness. I was stationed here by my father on King's order to accompany you and also for keeping an eye on this Venefic."

"But I thought my father sent me on this journey to grow powerful and only allowed one person?"

"As far as he is concerned, Venefics can't be considered people and it completely aligns with our Kingdom's faith . To leave the future ruler of our kingdom in such hands would be just a façade to send him to doom. That is why the moment you chose him as a partner, I was sent here" She replied quickly.

"I see. What did my brother have to say about the whole affair?" Keith asked hesitatingly .

"I think his exact words were " It is of no relevance to me at this point what he does. If he can return from his journey better than before, then he may have anything he want." She told him at which he just smiled. Brother Milan it seems he was good at playing being offensively neutral here just like usual.

"So you will be coming with us? That still doesn't explain why you clung to him before or expected him to remember ?" Felix spoke at last.

"That is none of your business."

"It is because I am far more capable at both combat and strategy and have been safeguarding him through Meran while you were sipping tea and relaxing."

"Why you? ..." She interlocked her fingers belligerently.

"Enough! I just recalled that I had met her in past once .I just didn't get a good look at her back then in dim lighting .If it is majesty's decree, it is not like we can ignore it . So you both should try to get along ."

"Was that actually intended to suddenly make us at peace. Keith, you are hundred years too early to act as pacifist ." Felix smirked.

"I was just trying. Shut up." Keith bit his lip.

"Addressing Prince with such familiar tongue! How .." Luna heaved her chest.

"Are you jealous ? Aw! I can almost see a tint of red on your cheeks"

"I will kill you, scoundrel." She glared.

"You are welcome to try." He stuck his tongue out at her. Before Luna or Keith could say anything, Felix 's ears perked up at sudden sensation. Both barely comprehended as to what was happening before they saw him disappear all of sudden and coming back with a dead body.

"It seems there was a spy . Aveline must have some other comrades informed about us ." He dropped the man near the wall as Luna looked at him in surprise.

"When. How." Words stuck in her throat as she blinked at sight before her.

"It is one of Felix's powers. He can .."

"Let me explain. You will probably mess it up " Felix stopped Keith who just sulked . " I have control over time. I can manipulate time to move as slowly or fast or even put it in debt. Well only small amounts now. I need to eat a lot. Beside that I can utilize other magic in combination with time to make them even more powerful. They don't call me serpent for nothing after all." He smiled haughtily.

"You just wanted to brag again, didn't you?" Keith gave him an annoyed look.

"Maybe."

"That is impressive alright! " Luna admitted after a pause.

"I know right? What magic do you have then? "

"I have fire and lightning magic."

"Don't you have any specific magic? Those are just common magic " Felix wondered.

"Don't be rude now! " Keith shook his head at him .

"I do not possess any other magic if you imply that?"

"Okay!" Felix relented seeing Keith's stare. "Well now then! Before advancing ahead on our journey, I want to discuss few things with Prince. That is your cue to leave, if you didn't get it little Lu"

"Don't call me that and I am staying here. Whatever is your plan, share with me .For if you are planning to ditch me, Venefic, Prince would be the one getting in trouble ."

"I w-wasn't going to ditch you. Probably." Felix shrugged his shoulders. " Fine! Suit yourself." He sat down on the bed unfolding the map and a large sheet.

Engaged in their usual banter nonetheless, both Felix and Luna were able to keep their priorities regarding safety of Prince to forefront despite their stark differences and knew quite well what they had to do. After deliberating on different facets and goals , all three of them had fallen asleep soundly by midnight .

As per the plan, the trio started to immerse themselves in the urban milieu to collect more and more information regarding the kingdom. Though after three failed try that almost exposed their operation by Keith, that duty was repealed from him so he was simply stuck with arranging resources.

"I am sorry but you just slip in too much, Prince." Luna bowed her head apologetically.

"No! It is fine. You don't need to bow. I mean after all we are partners now." He beamed as she nodded hiding here exalted spirit.

Finally after a week, they set out for the capital Ninavel of Weselton, also the most nearest town to Kingdom of Andonia. Since it was capital, it was only reasonable to expect tighter security there but even so all other town were located too far from Andonia and only allowed passageway through some other South Kingdom before they could reach Andonia.

It would have been simple matter if King Lucius had granted them permission to invade Andonia through common forest land since South Kingdom and Selvesters were quite close, only separated by narrow margin of land but he had made it quite clear that they can't use that area if they want to get there since it is supposed to be journey of wits and power both.

That had left only few options, one of which was using underground sea passage from Weselton routed towards various kingdoms in south that had been built back in King Chrome XVII era. Ninahel just happened to have the route leading directly into heart of Andonia but for some reason neither had Prince Milan uses it when he was on his journey to get there nor had any Weseltonian king.

There were only few explanations according to Felix. Either the new kings in Weselton are unaware of passage's existence and just guard the area in proximity thus blocking any access there to all or they are aware but they don't use it because they don't want to have beef with Andonia which just raised even more questions for the trio!

As to why would a big kingdom like Weselton be worried about beef with small province of Andonia? But all clearly knew one thing as they entered the capital. They would only know it all when they see it for themselves.

"Ane se prette." Luna exclaimed at shining lights in shop at night.

"What does that mean?" Felix poked Keith.

"Just distinguished noble way of saying "wow! So pretty." He explained unable to take his eyes off the blinding lights of marketplace in Ninavel.

"I see. You remember what I had told you right?"

"Of course! I can't proceed until I find my affinity so I have to head into central library with Luna while you would look for the passage's location discreetly."

"Good! Based on what we info we have gotten, it should be in north east but I would only contact you next time now until I am done with my investigation which would probably take decent chunk of time since I can't move here as fast as I could in Meran. Do you want some spells?"

"Oh yes! I was wondering how did you give me that spell when your power is time? I mean it was certainly not time related ? That phoenix you know?"

"Didn't I explain to you about Razvael pact? " Felix tilted his head slightly.

"No ! I understood that part . What I didn't understand was the part about you having a spirit magic? Do you have both time and spirit magic then since phoenix is classified as spirit in royal library?" Keith wondered as Luna looked at duo intrigued by the conversation.

"There is much that humans don't know about magic,. All your kind knows is to rely on a path discovered by chance and keep reiterating it hoping to land on some other chance by stroke of luck and progress under your misconstrued rationalisations."

"Could you please stop dissing our kind existence right now and just tell me what I asked?" Keith sighed.

"Sure! There are basically five elemental magic as I told you classified under common magic. Any other magic which is not combination of both comes under specific magic. Time magic is simply origin magic that I possess to claim the title of serpent but I also have common magic of fire and earth . Earth magic not only allows control over terrain like humans are able to have but it is also able to manifest various different traits it possess but since no one else possess time magic other than me, they can't really appraise that .

I use my time magic no matter what little magic I undertake . It is just a habit of mine . Fire as you know was brought to earth's core by first phoenix who came to this world and its body slowly decayed forming the mantle know today. When you use fire ,earth and time reversal magic combined, what you get is phoenix , a flame life form of earth that existed long time ago . All I had to do was conjure that for you when you activated that spell. The moment you said that incantation, I knew you were in a fight so you it simply activated on its own. Of course since it was my first time doing so, it didn't last long. " He explained.

"Wow! I just thought it was some sort of spirit magic that our kingdom's protector being had granted to King Chrome XVII but it seems you really put a lot of thought into your attacks." Keith's eyes shone brightly.

"Oh! Then I can see why you were so quick to arrive at that assessment. It still is a mystery even to us Venefics as to who was the being that actually helped you humans five centuries ago against Regalius." Felix wondered.

"Indeed! As it is to us. But no has seen her ever since the three kingdom alliance broke down 416 years ago." Luna admitted.

"Well! It doesn't matter. She is probably dead by now." Felix shrugged.

"Yeah !" Keith agreed. After few more exchanges , Felix parted his way from both of them.

"He is not as bad as the kingdom reported..'

"See!" Keith turned to her quickly.

"But I still can't trust him." Luna finished as he sighed." Indeed! Let's go. I need to get my magic soon. It is really hard to believe still that the Prince of most powerful kingdom , blessed with Kings more and more powerful magic in succession still doesn't even have yet to exhibit any trace."

"Great things come with time, Prince. You should really no worry too much. I am sure we will find lot of clues in library of Weselton about various type of magic ."

"You are right!" Keith smiled confidently.

Andonia

"Impudence! Do you know your place?" Waeng Xiao She Jin raised his sword at him as he remained seated in his place adamant.

"Settle down, Xiao."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." He lowered his sword at Ruhainian's command. Ever since the new decree of Vexes , the situation in kingdom was becoming volatile, especially among ministers.

Two days ago, she had been just dancing at thought of becoming as powerful as serpent that Dylan had described to her. She was just enjoying her chat with Zelda when the messenger came bearing the news.

"My queen! Kingdom of Vexes has declared a succession war."

"Succession war! Has King Milosevic has finally gone crazy?" Zelda rose up from her seat enraged.

"I don't know any other details, mam. But they have said that within six days, if no response is received, they will consider it to be denied and flank the western section. And only magic fight is allowed"

"Those pests! " Zelda crushed tea cup in her hand as she gestured the messenger to go away.

"Settle down, Zel! It won't do us any good to get fired up right now. Milosevic has always been looking for an excuse all this time to somehow annexe us . Now that my father is gone, he thinks he can conquer it easily by putting pressure on me. "

"As always, you are quick to catch up with things. When was the last succession war decreed?"

"Hmm! Probably thirty five years ago by Vexes only I think."

"Wasn't that the time when Prince of Vexes who was headed to our Kingdom went missing before he could negotiate peace between our Kingdoms?"

"Indeed! As far as I see, I think they were probably the one to kill him since they wanted an excuse to drab our name in mud ." Sphylla hitched her shoulders.

"That is highly likely. Even so, who will we even head the succession war? Last time, it was avoided to masterful diplomacy but I doubt that is going to work again."

"Indeed, Zelda." Ruhainian held her head . Succession war, was first coined during reign of Lucius Von Selvesters III when the third Meran invasion war happened.

King Lucius seeing he was surrounded by enemies on all sides with a feeble force at his side imbued himself with his magic. Seeing his immense magical skill, Weselton army were reluctant to strike first. Even so, it was obvious that both Kings were in bind since King Lucius knew his magic would only serve as a deterrence to his inevitable fall. That is when King Lucius offered to let them go if they would just let their heads fight. Both Kingdoms could send their best magic knight or chose raw combat as deciding factor and losing King would have to retreat with his army .

King of Weselton who had pride in physical prowess challenged King Lucius in swordfight but the duel was completely one sided as he stood no chance against the Selvester King. The army chief was bereaved at loss of his King but obliged to the deal and retreated.

Since the war involved death of the opponent and rapid escalation, it came to be known as succession war. King of Vexes knew quite well that it had more powerful mages than Andonia due to which it had been confident in its decision to declare a succession war.

Ruhainian was well aware of what must have been going in Milosevic's mind when he decreed it. The other party invited to succession war could rescind it of course but at very same time, it was looked down upon by other kingdoms since the succession war resulted in only few casualties thus leading to notion that if someone refuses to participate in it, they are willing to engage their kingdom in conflict endangering its people.

It was evident what Vexes wanted. If she refuses to participate, she will lose trust of people and pave way to internal instability making it easier for army of Vexes to move in and if she agrees to it, she can only win by sending a Venefic which would reveal their secret to other Kingdoms and pave way for instability again.

Two days later and as expected, ministers were divided on whether Venefics should be sent disguised or not for combat. The situation in Andonia was sure in tightropes, faster than she had hoped it would.

"It is clearly obvious what we ought to do. People's trust can't be bought so easily. After harbouring Venefics for so long, it is only natural to utilize them. "

"Don't you realise what will that do, Zhizune?" Leia Yang opposed him.

"It will reveal their existence to world so what? It is clearly obvious that they are not capable of defeating Venefics with their military might nor can they keep attacking us for too long . The five kingdom alliance might have been dominated by Vexes but still if they expend their might toward us , Selvesters will be the first to profit from that block their movement once they retreat from south side of Ardania. "Zhizune suggested.

"It seems for once , you have a point." Leia raised her eyebrows surprised.

"I will just ignore that insult. Have you opened your eyes already, Queen?" He looked at Ruhainian.

"Impudence! Do you know your place?" Waeng Xiao She Jin raised his sword at him as he remained seated in his place adamant.

"Settle down, Xiao."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." He lowered his sword at Ruhainian's command. She breathed deeply.

"I am not denying that you have a point but even so I think before making haste, we should look for some other alternative. We still have three more days before they make any move . There was a reason that our ancestors chose to hide their existence . So do you know why they didn't do so?

It is because they didn't wish to increase the hostility brewing in the region even more than it already was. We are considering that Vexes won't attack us due to consequent loss on their side but we must understand that if they chose to do so and Selvesters occupy the side, it would only increase the vulnerability of South Kingdoms.

If Selvesters gain free access to the south part of Ardania, due to retreat of five kingdom alliance due to this revelation that we were hiding Venefics , then it would mean that we are indirectly entertaining the possibility of putting Vexes in harm without any concern for advancement of Selvesters, common enemy of all south kingdoms" She smiled crossing her arms. " So tell me would you really want a condition that while we are winning war with Vexes due to Venefics, Selvesters would be gaining even more power than they already have?"

All ministers held their breath as they felt chills down their spine. They had always thought of her as a figurehead, someone who makes decision seeing majority. But it seemed logic was a quintessence indeed in her thought process. To think she had been able to see something so evident that they missed in their blind despite for King Milosevic.

"As you wish, your highness. It is true indeed! Selvesters can't be allowed to grow more powerful than they already are or soon no one will be left to oppose their expansion."

"Well! That is certainly not an unreasonable speculation, Zhizune." She stood up as all bowed their head leaving the room.

"Just one move, one step, one pointer .Carefully but quickly, I must find that one tiny crack in the massive bulwark of Five kingdom alliance to turn tables to my side." She pondered engraved in the darkness well aware of peril awaiting her kingdom if she failed.

Weselton

Ninavel central library

"Lazelus ,the silver fox, the first of holy twelve who were present at creation of earth. " Keith closed off the book ."Why are there so many books about spirits who we have never seen in every library ! Like seriously, it is like earth was created by some grand alliance or something."

"Ya right! Like that could be ever true." Luna chuckled.

"Indeed! So did you find any interesting book?"

"Hmm! Nothing too particular about type of specific or unique magic types or any guide yet but I did find something interesting you might like, Prince?"

"Please! Just call me Keith, Miss Luna." He smiled.

"As I said before, call me Luna too." She took up a chair and added in low tone. "Keith." He sat down beside her in agreement surprised at title of the book she had in her hands.

"History of Weselton : A strife ridden world"

"History matches up so far. I am quite interested to see what they wrote about their betrayal in these books "Keith's eyes glared at book fiercely as he arrived at the section of THREE KINGDOM ALLIANCE WAR, CHROME ERA 100 .

"So even he can get angry..! " Luna blinked her eyes. Indeed! There were only few kingdoms that could provoke Keith and the betrayal by Weselton towards their ancestor was as touchy subject to him as it was to any other Selvester.

"I have them in my sights. What are my orders, sir?" A man seated on opposite table spoke as people walked past by him unaware of his activities.

"The central library can't be put into harm at any cost. Observe them for now and report to me with domain once they are about to leave. In case, I don't reach there on time before they leave, you are free to deal with them as you like but make sure to capture him alive for further questioning."

"Understood, sir." His cold eyes stared as both of them continued reading the book, completely oblivious to peril ahead.

......