Chapter 89: 88. (Interlude) Thunderstruck

Oshal's Capital city, Aizska, is well known throughout the peninsula for its interesting topography. Magic is power, both economically and politically. Therefore kingdoms and empires build their capital cities upon leylines. These leylines replace the consumed mana and stop capital cities from becoming mana wastelands within years.

Like Kassinki's capital city, Leylines lie below Aizska's surface. But due to the Leylines being unmovable, the original settlers of Oshal had little choice in the location of their magnificent capital city.

Tightly packed on the flatland between three enormous mountains lies Aizska in all its glory. Thousands of towers crafted from beautiful white stone reached for the skies. Apart from the various rivers, no space was left unused. 

A man of immense status observed the sprawling capital from his balcony; his cold gaze lingered on the mountain directly opposite for a while.

All three mountains surrounding Aizska had their tops flattened and grand pavilions built upon them. The man's cold gaze ignored the northern mountain that belonged to the only other Duke family of Oshal. Instead, he focused on the Emperor's mountain, directly opposite his.

"Asmodeus. Come here." A weak voice called the man back inside.

A frail old man was lying in a luxurious bed; his age was far past a regular human due to his A-grade magic. Yet, despite the gates of death being moments away, the man's eyes were like gazing upon a primordial storm. 

"I have left the Henson family in your care for the last twenty years..." the old man spoke with great difficulty, "Asmodeus, you have done an excellent job thus far."

"Thank you, Father." Duke Henson replied with the utmost respect.

"But!" the old man continued, "I can see the coldness in your eyes, son. Your hunger for power will only worsen when I pass my lightning spirit to you. The Emperor may be growing old, but he is still an unfathomably powerful mage. Tread carefully; that is my only warning. Whether the Henson family rises to Royalty or is wiped out in a single night is no longer my concern. That burden lies upon your shoulders."

Asmodeus knelt beside the bed, "I shall carry on your legacy Father, the Emperor and the other nobles will suffer under my wrath. The cowardly nobles have respected the noble pledge for far too long and have allowed the Emperour and the Greentail family to remain in power when they have no right to hold it!"

The old man sighed but grinned, "Young Asmodeus, you remind me of my youth. When I received this lightning spirit from your grandfather, I felt like a living God! I could smite down all those who opposed me... good times..." The old man's chaotic eyes glazed over, showing his end was near.

"Good luck on your revenge, my son. She never deserved such treatment."

Those were the old man's final words as he drifted into an endless slumber.

Asmodeus let out a sigh of relief, "The old bastard finally died. I was afraid this day would never come..." He abruptly stood up without hesitation, and his sombre attitude vanished.

"ᚠᛚᚨᛗᛖ ᛋᛈᛁᚱᚨᛚ (Flame Spiral)." Fire swirled around Duke Henson's hands before firing out. "Burn in hell, old man."

The luxurious bed exploded into a raging blaze, and the smell of burning flesh and wood filled the room.

While he waited for the flames to subside, Asmodeus strolled out of the bedroom and headed for the garden.

Surrounded by marble pavilions was a perfectly manicured green space. Servents gracefully bowed when their overlord passed. Henson towered over the peasants and gave them little attention. Instead, he focused on his obese son Dylan. He was lying happily next to the pool while being fed fruit by his two wives.

Whenever Asmodeus saw his failure of a son, he could hardly contain his anger. Lightning arced across his monstrously large hands, and a second later, a marble statue of a manticore exploded; only a pile of molten rock remained.

Dylan fell into the pool in shock, and his two wives screamed.

"Next shot will be at your head, you worthless son." Asmodeus's voice was calm and lacked any sense of a joke. "Where are my promised grandchildren? Why are you sitting around here wasting time?"

Dylan's wives both gulped. Neither wished to admit they avoided having sex with Dylan as much as possible. He was simply too ugly.

Dylan bobbed in the water with a scowl, "Father! I told you I wish for my firstborn to be with Fay Karles! Not these two whores you got me...."

"And?" Asmodeus's frown sent a shiver down Dylan's spine, "Where is Fay Karles then?"

Dylan threw his hands up, "I don't know! It's like she vanished into thin air!"

Asmodeus eyed his secretary, "Sebastian."

"My Lord?"

"Investigate this. Ensure you check all the records no matter how obscure the location is."

"By your will My Lord."

"Oh also." Asmodeus raised his voice so everyone could hear clearly, "Nobody is allowed to come near my estate for the next month; I will kill anyone who so much as steps a foot near it. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

Everyone nervously nodded; even Dylan wasn't spared from his Fathers intense gaze.

***

Asmodeus Henson returned to his bedroom and laughed as a ghosty blue entity in the shape of a raincloud emerged from a smouldering heap of wood and flesh. The entity was the Henson family legacy, an A grade lightning spirit.

Luckily for Asmodeus, a tamed spirit was incredibly docile, so absorbing it would simply take time rather than effort.

"Once I absorb this spirit, I will become one of the twenty powerhouses on the peninsula."

A crazy grin appeared on the massive man's face as he unlocked an enchanted metal chest and brought out a Fire affinity stone.

"And if I also absorb this, I will have an A grade in both Lightning and Fire. With this, I should be able to crush both the Emperour and the Muzen Dukedom. Revenge? For my Wife? Hahahaha, as if I would pursue something so petty, why would I stop at only ruling Oshal? The entire peninsula should cower under the Henson name... UNDER ME!"

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Without wasting another second, Henson sat down and began absorbing the Lightning spirit and the Fire elemental stone simultaneously.

***

Sebastian excused himself from the young master and promptly left the garden. He considered himself a faithful servant, but he genuinely despised Dylan Henson.

Taking a deep breath, the season butler regained his calm and headed towards the side of the mountain. The Henson family's direct descendants reserved the flat peak covered in marble pavilions for themselves. The space was large enough for a small city, but only five people inhabited the land. 

The Henson branch families lived on the mountainside or in the Henson district of Aizska city at the mountain's base. 

Asmodeus Henson desperately needed heirs as his wife was killed in a noble conspiracy, and his son is unfathomably useless. So the Henson branch families watched from the ground like a hungry pack of wolves; if not for Asmodeus Henson's might as a dual circuit mage, they would have collectively stormed and taken over the mountain years ago.

The butler removed these useless thoughts and climbed aboard a black wyvern. It would take Sebastian an entire day to walk down the mountainside, so he prefered this method of travel.

The tamed beast let out a low growl before taking to the skies.

***

The Wyvern landed at a carefully obscured cave entrance. Two men wearing purple robes with a silver cloud and thunderbolt logo came to greet him.

"Secretary Sebastian, welcome!"

Sebastian ignored the two sentinels and walked past, "Show me to the communication archives."

"Right away!" 

After passing through multiple layers of security, Sebastian found himself in a smoke-filled room. Numerically labelled green communication stones covered every inch of the cave walls. 

A peacefully sleeping young man was in the centre of the room with a cap over his eyes. A half-finished cig sat in the corner of his mouth. 

"Brat!" Sebastian barked, and the young man almost fell off the chair in surprise.

"Supervisor! I... erm.... how can I assist you?"

Sebastian resisted the urge to kill the man before him and calmly asked, "Show me the recent logs."

"C-certainly!" The young man did an odd salute and quickly retrieved a folder from his desk.

Sebastian looked through the contents and frowned, "I don't have the time to check through every spy we have; just tell me which ones have made any unusual contact."

The young man pondered for a while. Then, just as Sebastian was about to lose his patience, the man hit his fist in a eureka moment, "Actually! There was this one unusual message I got from... John something... spy... just give it here."

The man took the folder back and quickly located the page of interest. 

"Ah! Here we go. John, aka Spy 1034, was investigating a backwater town in Kassinki called Blackthorn three weeks ago."

Sebastian tapped his foot in annoyance, "And?"

"Well, erm... he made an emergency communication that reads as follows; 'Duke Henson I found-' and then he cut off."

"So? What did he find?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? What did he say on his next transmission?"

"He never... transmitted again..."

Sebastian became furious, "And you didn't report this?"

The young man meekly shook his head.

Sebastian ripped the folder from his hands and left the room.

"Execute him."

The two sentinels gulped, but they followed their supervisor's commands.

Sebastian ignored the screams behind him and instead focused on one word.

Blackthorn.