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Chapter 57: Coming of Age Ceremony
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It had been a few days since their family outing and the day that they waited for-- the coming-of-age ceremony -- arrived. At first, Dio was reluctant to come but he couldn’t refuse because he was a part of the merchant class and they were required to attend the ball.
“You really are a looker, Dio.” Mika nodded proudly as she looked at Dio from head to toe. “I’m sure a lot of people will be jealous of me since you’re going to be my partner for the ball.”
“I feel sorry for you, brother.” Kael patted Dio’s shoulder as he grinned. “If only Mika chose a man from all those who sent her requests, you could have escorted someone you like at the ball.”
Mika rolled her eyes. “There’s no one worthy to be my escort among those men.”
“I heard the second son of Viscount Argentine invited you to be his partner. Isn’t he worthy in your eyes?” Riguel, who was leani
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“Good evening, everyone.” The emperor’s voice rang around the hall. Everyone looked at the terrace that served as a platform in the place. “Today, we are not just celebrating the coming-of-age of these young people of the empire but also the birthday of our deceased crown prince.”The emperor lifted the glass in his hand. “To Princess Cassiel and the others, congratulations on your coming of age. To my son, happy birthday. I hope that you are doing fine out there.”The emperor’s speech ended with everyone giving him a round of applause. Dio just stared at the imperial family who seemed like a happy family in front of the people.“Are you jealous that the princess has a mother?” Mika asked when he noticed that Dio’s eyes were on the empress.“Why would I? My mother was the best mother I could ever have and I have been blessed by a second family that I truly love.” Dio smiled. &ld
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After that incident, Mika had been curious about him so Royce stopped his children to probe more and said that Dio had an unknown illness. Because of that, Mika and Kael had been more caring towards him, making him feel like a little kid being protected by his older siblings. “Dio, make sure to sleep as soon as you go to your room, okay?” Mika said. Dio smiled because he was reminded of his mother with the tone she used. “I’m not a kid, Sister.” “Though you’re an adult now, you still need to take care of yourself.” Dio shook his head as he succumbed to his sister’s will. “Fine. I ate a lot and now I’ll sleep a lot too,” he said with a grin. “That’s my boy.” Mika messed his hair which made him frown. He entered his room and dropped himself on the bed. ‘You’re really happy with your new family now.’Blur said in his head. ‘Yes. I never thought that I’d experience this feeling again.’ ‘Th
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The bright light coming from the window woke Dio from his slumber. He squinted his eyes and saw a familiar build opening the other curtains in his room. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” Mika’s voice echoed around his room. He had no choice, he sat up and rubbed his eyes as he tried to suppress his yawn. “What are you doing here so early in the morning, Sis?” “Have you forgotten? Today is a special day!” The excitement in his sister’s voice reminded Dio of the special event for that day. They were supposed to apply for admission to the academy. “You better prepare yourself, Dio. I’ll come back after two hours.” Dio nodded his head nonchalantly. He stood up when Neil entered his room with his change of clothes. Dio went to the dining room and he saw that his family was already there. “You look good on your clothes, Dio.” Riguel complimented him with a smile. “Thanks, brother.” He sat beside Riguel and across Mika. “A
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“Today is the day!” Kael said excitedly as he went out of the carriage. Dio followed after him and stretched out his hand to help his sister down. The image of a strikingly handsome and kind gentleman was impressed in the mind of the girls who saw them leave their carriage. Most commoner girls giggled and blushed at the sight of the Armani brothers and the boys could not take off their eyes to the Armani’s only daughter. “We didn’t have a grand entrance and yet we still caught the attention of the students,” Mika said with a sigh as she clung her arms to Dio. “We only caught the commoners’ eyes because we belong to the Armani Family. I bet the Aristobrats wouldn’t even spare us a glance,” Kael said with a sarcastic smile emphasizing the term aristobrats which he made up to say that aristocratic children were brats. The three of them parted ways as soon as they entered the gates because the Theoretical building was located on the east side of the acade
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“No. You guys are not going to live in the dorms.” Kael and Mika looked like they want to say something but both of them chose to shut their mouths. Their father already drew the line and they knew well not to try their luck once their father already decided on one thing. “Father, the three of them became members of the Elite Class. Don’t you think it would be best for them to stay with their peers?” Riguel said as he discreetly winked at his siblings. “Riguel, you know why I wouldn’t allow them. How could they stay at a place where nobles reside?” Royce put down his knife and fork and looked at the twins. “No matter how wealthy our family is, there will be nobles who wouldn’t look favorably upon you.” “It doesn’t matter. We will live in the dorms so that we could spend more time training and studying, not to make friends with the nobles,” Dio said nonchalantly. “To be honest, I’m more worried about you.” Royce faced him with a worried express
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Their first day of class came right after that day. Princess Cassiel who became a part of the Elite Class woke up earlier compared to the other members and her maid immediately attended to her needs. She went down with the hopes that she could surprise the others with her cooking skills, but she was surprised instead when she saw Dio wearing an apron while cooking breakfast in the kitchen. “I didn’t know that you can cook.” Cassiel smiled as she stopped beside Dio to peek at what he was cooking. “I’m not that good of a cook but I can cook simple dishes.” Dio smiled back as he put the omelet on a plate. He fried the bacon while the rice was being cooked on the other burner. “Can I help you?” She said as she took the omelet and put it on the table. “No need, your highness.” Dio smiled as he put the cooked bacon on a new plate and put another set on the pan. “But I didn’t come here to be served.” Cassiel pouted as she rested her chin on her hand.
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“Are you going in the training field again, Caspian?” Arthur asked his seatmate. Since the start of classes, the elite class had their own training schedules, so they all went their different ways right after dismissal. “No. Prince Andriel invited me to his training room for a spar.” Caspian put his books on his space ring and stood up. “Too bad.” Arthur sounded disappointed but he patted Caspian’s shoulder and smiled. “I’ll see you at the house, later.” Caspian nodded as he walked his way towards his destination. While walking along the corridor, he saw Dio surrounded by guys from other classes. Dio looked bored while listening to their insults but he didn’t talk back. After spouting derogatory words, the group of men left him alone and he just went on as if nothing happened. Caspian shook his head. He noticed the bad treatment of the nobility towards Dio ever since the start of the academic year. He would always see him surrounded and harassed by a
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“Dio!” Cassandra held Dio’s shirt to stop him from walking further. It had been a week since the classes started and she noticed the difference in treatment towards Dio by the other students, especially the nobles. “Is everything okay?” Dio turned to face her and flashed a kind smile. “Of course!” “But I saw you being surrounded by the nobles from other classes last time.” She looked down and frowned. “Oh, that?” Dio scratched his nape. “It’s fine. Words alone wouldn’t bring me down. I have decided that I wouldn’t care about other’s opinions about me since they don’t matter.” He smiled but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Cassandra knew that Dio was just faking it. It was hard to be judged and shunned by people with higher status and it was harder because even the members of the Elite Class wouldn’t stand up for him. It was as though he was all alone in whatever situation he was in. “Nothing is lonelier than fighting your battles alone,” Cassa
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“You finally decided to show yourself,” Absalom chuckled when Amir, Joe, and Vince went towards him. The stars and their masters’ were confused about what was happening between the captain and him. The crackling sound from Dio’s lightning dagger was heard by the others. Though some couldn’t accept the truth that Dio was a multi-element mage, there were people who genuinely wished to see him not holding back. Dio’s vines grew around the area to attack Absalom but the other three captains moved to protect him. “You need to go through us if you want to hurt him.” Dio couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “So there are also people you wanted to protect?” It was a sarcastic laugh filled with bitterness. There were people whom he failed to protect: his mother and grandfather. Those were his family who loved and cherished him, but he lost them because of the midnight serpents. He continued to live on for the sake of revenge and because of that, he fou
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Cassiel merged with her phoenix guardian while Andriel merged with his thunderbird. With fire and lightning, they merged their powers and created attacks that were supposed to be hard to dodge. However, Captain Joe and Captain Vince were veteran fighters so fighting them was hard for the two.Cassiel cast a fireball and Andriel merged it with his lightning bolt. The ball made of fire and high-voltage electricity crackled as it went on a straight path towards Joe. The speed of the attack was too fast that Joe didn’t fully dodge it and left a small cut on his shoulder.“Not bad, you two. However, I’m not your only opponent,” Joe smirked when the two realized that Vincent was nowhere to be seen.Suddenly, a black whip covered with high-voltage electricity came to attack the two and they barely dodged it. They looked around and saw Vince a few meters away from them, holding the base of the whip. He laughed evilly when he saw the anxious expre
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Dio pulled Lewis’ shirt when he tried to step back. He also used his dagger when Lewis tried to slash his hand and smirked. “Let’s finish this.” Lewis, with all his strength, pushed Dio away from him. He kept his distance from him since he was informed that Dio’s strength was his melee fighting, though he also needed to be wary of his casting. However, he didn’t know that the information he received was taken when Dio was still an adventurer. As a student of the academy, Dio honed his casting skills and practiced them by helping the other casters in the elite class. Dio used his vines to capture Lewis who always dodged his attacks and his attempts of getting closer. Since Lewis was naturally fast, it took him a lot of time just to catch him. He set a trap and drove him to the way he planned for him to go and there he created a pit deep enough so he wouldn’t escape. Dio held the mouth of the hole and ice spread from his hand down to where Lewis stood.
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Almost hundreds of monsters inside that dungeon surrounded Dio. Though he knew they outnumbered him, he let everyone leave him alone so that he could use his power to his heart’s content. “Bree, can I trust you to watch my back?” Dio looked around and created a plan in his head. “Sure, master!” Bree twinkled brighter in excitement. “I wish Blur was here too.” “It’s okay, Bree. Blur would assist the others at school.” Dio put his dagger back into its sheath as Bree took care of the monsters that attacked them. After he put the daggers in his space ring, Dio created an electric dagger with his right hand and an ice dagger with the left one. “Now, let’s do this.” Dio helped Bree with cleaning up the monsters. With a single slash of his dagger, the small monsters were cut in half. And since Dio embedded poisons in his daggers, those who were cut and wounded weren’t able to regenerate or heal their wounds, so they end up dying. “I like your eyes an
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“Dio and Kael, though I know that you already know him, let me introduce Carter von Claude.” Professor Croix gestured his hand towards Carter. “He was promoted to the elite class last week and he will join you in today’s excursion.” Dio bowed his head to Carter. Though he was sad that Mika had been replaced, he knew it was no one’s fault and that the world would continue moving, even after her death. That thought hurt him a bit, but he had to accept it. Those who were left needed to continue leaving. Just like how he did it after his grandfather’s death, he would live his life to honor those whose lives were lost because of him. He had decided. He would talk with Andriel if they meet again. The group went into the carriage large enough to fit fifteen people and settled down. The atmosphere wasn’t as comfortable because of the new member but they lifted the mood. Dio was seated beside Keila and just like their midterms exams, he snuggled close to her and close
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Dio and Kael went back to school after a few days of being on leave. It was so sudden and everyone was surprised to hear the news of the Armani Massacre and Mika’s death. Dio couldn’t even smile out of guilt. He couldn’t forget how he promised to go home early just to end up being late and not being able to save her.It was the afternoon lunch break and Dio chose to hide at the back of the building under the shade of the tree. He still couldn’t get over his sister’s death.How could he? All he did ever since he met her was to make her worried about him! Mika gave him a warm welcome, she made him feel that he belonged in the family and treated him as a precious little brother.He hadn’t done anything for her yet. He still had a lot more things to do with her. There were more memories to be shared, but it was too late. He couldn’t make her happy after all the love he received from her.Dio buried his face on his kne
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“Our master’s prediction was right. He really came.” A girl wearing black revealing clothes giggled as soon as he reached the second floor. “Hey, boy, do you want to play with me?” She even licked her lips after looking at him from head to toe.He smiled seductively and let the girl touch his chest before she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Was it okay to play with a boy like me?”He scoffed internally. How could she act so shameless right after they planned to kill his sister?The girl licked her lips and looked him in the eye. His eyes never left hers and soon enough, her lips touched his and he had no choice but to open his mouth so that her tongue could have her way.They were both panting when they finished the kiss. Dio smiled and whispered, “That’s one down for me.”The girl’s eyes widen as she held her neck. She was gasping and chasing her breath but the more she struggled
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Blur entered the slums so Dio just followed him. The people living there eyed him suspiciously because of his bloodied academy uniform, but he chose to ignore them. Nothing was more important to him than the annihilation of the people who massacred his family. As long as those people wouldn’t stop him, he wouldn’t have anything to do with them.Blur entered a dark alley and Dio moved to follow him. However, a voice of an old man was heard before he could enter the alley.“What’s the business of a young man in there?”Dio stopped in his tracks and looked at the old man who was hiding in the shadows. He smiled innocently but there was a hint of danger in his eyes. “Someone indebted to me is in there so I came to collect the payment.”“Take care. That place is dangerous.”Dio nodded and continued to walk inside. He found Blur waiting for him a few meters away and as soon as their eyes met, Blur con
