Chapter 34 - The Patriarch

  Daniel could already tell the patriarch of the Grifantes family was an unpleasant man before seeing his face. The mana signature approaching was heavy with age and accumulated power, openly threatening those around him.

  And when the old man rounded the doorframe, it did nothing to change his mind. In fact, it confirmed every negative impression.

  Clad in a black suit that probably cost more than most people earned in a year, he held a golden cane in his right hand—not for support, Daniel noted immediately, but as an affectation. A symbol of status. The man's posture was too straight, too strong for someone who actually needed walking assistance.

  He looked every bit like an old leader of a powerful family. His silvery-grey hair and beard were perfectly groomed, framing a face that seemed so used to frowning that his skin might crack if he tried to smile.

  Lucian glanced at Felicia with a clenched jaw and a flash of protective panic in his eyes.

  "Felicia, this is Erodin Grifantes, the patriarch of the Grifantes family." His voice came out tight, stripped of all the warmth it had held moments before. "Father, this is your granddaughter. Please don't—"

  “She is no more a Grifantes than that servant standing next to her!”

  The old man's yell cut through the room like a whip crack. The sound seemed to physically push against Daniel's eardrums, amplified by mana in a way that made it impossible to ignore.

  Daniel felt his mana surge in response. He clamped down on it immediately, forcing his power back under control.

  We let this play out as long as we can. No need to rush, unless she wants me to.

  Though he stayed calm for now, he worried about how Felicia would take this. The patriarch's words were correct, ironically enough. Felicia was just as much a Grifantes as Daniel was—which was to say, one hundred percent.

  Erodin stopped in front of Lucian, who seemed to physically shrink despite being considerably larger than his father. The dynamic was painfully clear—decades of conditioning that reduced a grown man to a nervous child.

  Daniel cataloged every detail. The way Lucian's breathing had quickened. The slight tremor in his hands. The way his eyes didn't quite meet his father's gaze, always glancing away at the last second.

  Why do all these noble houses seem to be so dysfunctional?

  Despite the obvious increase in pressure, Felicia seemed remarkably calm. She stood from her seat and bowed to the patriarch, just as politely as she had for Lucian. Every movement was textbook-perfect nobility.

  For better or worse, she was well accustomed to tense family situations. No amount of abuse had managed to break her.

  Fierce little rock…

  “It’s an honor to meet the patriarch of the Grifantes family.”

  Her voice didn't waver. Not even a tremor. If Daniel hadn't been able to sense her mana, he might have believed she was truly calm.

  The patriarch scoffed. "Of course you're polite. What choice do you have when you're here to ask for our help in taking over the Harrowbloom family."

  It wasn't even phrased as a question. He'd decided her motives before meeting her, built his narrative, and nothing she said would change his mind.

  So that's his angle. He thinks she's here for political leverage.

  It wasn't entirely unreasonable—a daughter born into a rival family, showing up unexpectedly, trying to establish a connection. The patriarch probably dealt with political maneuvering constantly.

  But his approach...

  There was no attempt at subtlety, no diplomatic probing. Just immediate hostility, immediate dismissal. He'd already decided she was worthless, an inconvenient complication at best, a threat at worst. And he was making that abundantly clear.

  Felicia barely reacted to the accusation. "I would rather lose all my other senses than take over the Harrowblooms. I am simply here to visit what I have always considered my second family."

  The patriarch's lip curled in disgust. "Like I said, you're no Grifantes. Perhaps if you weren't blind, or your mother hadn't died in such a pathetic way—"

  You worthless piece of—

  Daniel moved, reacting before his mind could fully catch up. But Felicia held an arm out, gesturing for him to hold back. He froze mid-step.

  How was she so calm? Her mother had just been insulted, dismissed as pathetic for dying to save her child, and she was standing there with perfect composure.

  Through his magical perception, he could feel Felicia's mana trembling more intensely now, but her physical form remained steady. She was holding herself together through sheer force of will, refusing to break in front of this man.

  This… this is hard to watch. How much have you endured to act this composed, Fillie?

  “It must seem pathetic to a man such as yourself, giving your life to save your child. Especially when that child turns out to be so useless to your cause, whatever it is.”

  The patriarch's face darkened. “What’s pathetic is dying in an airship.” He pointed to the increasingly tense Lucian with his cane. “You could crash an airship on top of this fool, and he would survive with barely a scratch.”

  Nice. Insult your son while you're at it.

  Lucian barely reacted, only keeping his eyes on the ground.

  "Oh, you pride yourself on your strength?" Felicia's voice had gone silky smooth, the tone Daniel was learning to recognize as her most dangerous. "Is that why you sent her away? Is that why there's not a single archmage in the Grifantes family?"

  Holy shit. Daniel's eyebrows shot up. She was throwing all caution to the wind, like there was some pent-up rage she had to get out in her heart.

  Well fucking said, though.

  The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Even Lucian looked shocked at the direct attack on the family's greatest weakness.

  "You shut your mouth, girl!" The patriarch's face had gone an interesting shade of purple. Veins stood out on his forehead, pulsing with each heartbeat. “Leave this tower before I throw you out!"

  There we go. Show us who you really are.

  Felicia jutted her chin out defiantly, standing proud despite the heavy mana pressing down on her. Her tendrils of mana enveloped Daniel's face, a gentle touch against his cheek, sensing the slight nod he gave her.

  The gesture was subtle, barely perceptible to anyone watching, but its meaning was clear. She was asking permission. Checking if it was time.

  And it was.

  “Make me.”

  For a moment, everything was still. The calm before the storm.

  Then the cane left the ground in a blur of motion.

  It moved faster than any ordinary weapon should, wreathed in mana that made the air scream as it passed through. The patriarch had enhanced it, poured power into the swing, aimed straight for Felicia's cheek with enough force behind it to leave a permanent mark.

  Not on your life.

  The cane clattered harmlessly against a golden barrier before it could reach her. The shield materialized instantly, formed from solid light.

  Daniel stepped forward, positioning himself between his sisters' useless descendants and Felicia. The mana he'd been suppressing leaked out now, just a fraction of it, enough to make his presence known.

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  “I believe this has gone on for long enough.”

  His voice was calm, but it left no room for doubt. The test was over. The patriarch had failed spectacularly.

  “And who are you to decide that?!” the patriarch yelled. “You think that flimsy barrier would have held if I intended to harm her?! Take your useless master and get out of here before I really lose my patience!”

  Flimsy barrier? Really? Daniel almost laughed. The shield could have stopped a siege weapon without so much as a crack. But if the old man wanted to posture...

  "Never in my life have I seen such outright cruelty for your own kin." The casual tone was gone now, replaced by something cold and cutting. "What the hell has happened to this family? Which idiot left you in charge?"

  The insult struck home. Daniel watched the patriarch's face cycle through shock, rage, and then homicidal fury.

  There we go. Show me what you've got, old man.

  The cane swung again, this time wreathed in killing intent and enough mana to level a building. The patriarch was going for the kill this time, aiming for Daniel's head with everything he had.

  Before it could even get close, an impossibly black flame appeared in its way. The void flame consumed the cane with ease, reducing most of the priceless artifact to nothingness in an instant.

  Erodin was left staring at the little stump that remained of his cane in shock.

  "The void flame? You DARE use the void flame against me?!" The patriarch's voice cracked on the last word, shock giving way to fresh rage—and beneath it, Daniel could sense the first hints of genuine fear. "Lucian, kill this bastard!"

  Daniel glanced at Lucian with mild interest. The man had transformed completely once blows started landing. Gone was the nervous child—in his place stood a honed warrior, hands over his blades, ready to draw.

  But even as Daniel watched with admiration, Lucian shook his head slowly, moving his hands away from his blades. “I’m… not his match, Father. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to escape.”

  “You useless…!” Erodin crushed the head of the cane in his hand, causing it to send out a pulse of mana.

  Oh, what now?

  “Father!” Lucian yelled, just before the lights in the room turned red. A distant alarm started blaring through the corridors, like the entire tower was under attack.

  Are we about to be surrounded by the Grifantes army? Whatever shall I do?

  Daniel kept his expression calm, though internally he was cataloging every magical shift in the building. This was more noise than he'd planned to make here, admittedly. He'd hoped to keep things relatively quiet, resolve the situation with minimal witnesses, make his point, and leave.

  But perhaps it was for the best. After what he had seen, he was going to remove the patriarch from his position. This bumbling idiot couldn’t be left in charge of what remained of his family.

  With a flash of blue light, a powerful barrier appeared in the room, cutting through the space between them. It isolated him and Felicia from the two Grifantes men.

  Oh, clever formation work, for once. Automatically separating family members from potential threats. Far too weak a barrier, though.

  It was the kind of defensive measure that might stop a typical grandmage, but Daniel could break it with a thought. Still, he had to admire the automatic threat-detection aspect of it.

  Erodin’s face was now completely confident, almost cracking a smile. “There might not be a Grifantes archmage alive, but that doesn’t mean we’re powerless. In fact, I’d even say this is the most well-protected building in the kingdom!”

  It’s not even the most well-protected in the city, old fool. Barely in the top three, after the academy and Lyra’s home.

  Daniel stayed alert, watching the formations surrounding them for signs of attack. His mana sight traced the flows of power through the tower, mapping out the defensive network, identifying potential threats.

  But before he could fully discern their functions, the sharp sound of glass shattering came from the hallway. Someone had broken through the glass floor, using the hollow light-shaft in the middle of the tower to ascend through the floors.

  Soon after, two men arrived at great speeds, drenched in thick mana.

  Two archmages? Not bad.

  The power rolling off them all but confirmed it. These were either high-level mages or true archmages, individuals who'd crossed the threshold into genuine magical mastery.

  Both were dressed in identical blue robes, clearly some kind of uniform or marking of allegiance. They looked to be about the same age as Erodin himself, in their sixties, with the weathered faces of men who'd seen decades of magical combat.

  One was bald save for an impressive mustache that dominated his upper lip, while the other had a long grey beard that reached nearly to his chest.

  They both scanned the room with sharp, calculating eyes, quickly turning confused when they saw the situation. Their gazes swept over the red lights, the barrier, the patriarch, and finally settled on Daniel and Felicia.

  Not what they expected when they got the emergency signal, I'd wager.

  “Finally!” Erodin yelled, pointing toward Daniel and Felicia. “Throw these insolent bastards out of the tower!”

  The bald archmage's eyebrows rose. "...You called us here to throw out some children?"

  "They insulted the Grifantes family! They insulted ME!" The patriarch's face was going purple again as fresh rage overwhelmed whatever temporary confidence the defenses had given him.

  Daniel almost had to laugh at the villain-like dialogue. The sheer pettiness of it, the wounded pride driving everything, the complete inability to see beyond his own ego.

  This guy… I could never write such an irredeemable bastard. Even Lyzelle seemed to care for her family to some degree.

  And that was saying something, considering Lyzelle had literally tried to sell Felicia into political marriage. At least she'd shown genuine concern for family members she considered 'worth protecting.' This man seemed to view everyone, even his own son, as tools or obstacles.

  Just as he viewed his daughter, I expect. Completely irredeemable.

  Daniel turned his attention back to the archmages. “The two of you should stay out of this. This is a family matter.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he pushed his finger against the barrier, and the void flame materialized at the point of contact. Black fire spread across the magical wall like ink on paper, consuming the enchantment completely. Where it touched, the barrier simply ceased to exist.

  He walked through the giant hole he'd created, stepping past the dissolving edges of the formation work.

  Erodin shrank back with wide eyes, nearly falling to the floor in his haste to get away from Daniel. His previous confidence was shattered like glass.

  Lucien remained in his spot, observing Daniel with sweat dripping down his temples. He did not seem to even consider fighting, but something forced him to stay in place. A warrior’s pride, perhaps.

  The two archmages immediately turned serious, seeing Daniel as a threat now.

  The bearded one created another barrier to shield Erodin. This one was stronger, layered with multiple defensive enchantments that shimmered in overlapping patterns.

  Meanwhile, the bald one stepped forward and conjured ten golden swords of light around himself, pointing toward Daniel.

  Ooh, another gold light user? But if he’s an archmage, that’s not his main Sarun magic.

  The spirit of gold light required to be an archmage was, after all, Daniel’s own.

  "I take back what I said; you're no child." The bald archmage's voice was calm and professional, confident in his own abilities. “That void flame was as black as I’ve ever seen.”

  Daniel smiled slightly. "Yes, I would hope being one thousand and forty years old qualifies me as not a child. Again, please leave."

  The number hung in the air, absurd and impossible. Both archmages blinked, processing the claim. A thousand years? Impossible.

  The bald archmage's face hardened. He didn't believe it, clearly, but he also wasn't willing to take chances. "Lunarex, let's do this!"

  Ah, the spirit of the white domain. A great combination with the gold light.

  Daniel recognized the name immediately. Lunarex, one of the great spirits of light, specialized in absolute illumination—not warmth or growth, but pure, blinding whiteness that overwhelmed all other senses.

  Unfortunately, that makes me the worst opponent for him.

  Almost in an instant, everything turned white.

  The transformation was immediate, like reality itself had been replaced by blank canvas. Blindingly white, so complete and overwhelming that it was like his eyes had been replaced by lightbulbs. Every surface, every shadow, every gradation of color—all of it was consumed by uniform, absolute whiteness.

  But his mana sight worked perfectly well.

  Through the white void, he could sense Felicia still sitting on the couch behind him, as well as the two archmages. Erodin and Lucien were outside of the domain, but he could sense them as well.

  "Uhm, Danny? Did anything happen?" Felicia asked from her seat, sounding genuinely confused. Obviously, she couldn't sense the complete whiteness due to her blindness—to her, only the distant sound of the alarm had changed.

  Daniel couldn't help himself. "Yeah, they made our eyes not work. We're doomed."

  Her laughter echoed through the white domain, breaking the tension in a way that probably infuriated the two archmages. The bearded one's jaw tightened.

  “Don’t do anything stupid now,” the bald archmage said in a calm voice. “If you know anything about domain magic, you should know it’s already over for you.”

  It’s been over since the beginning, buddy.

  But Daniel kept his thoughts to himself and instead offered genuine appreciation. "I'm impressed. Lunarex is not an easy spirit to gain control over. It was one of the many I considered, as well."

  The words hung in the air for a moment. Then a voice responded—not the archmage's, but something else entirely.

  ‘You speak as if you know me, human.’

  The voice came from all around them, from the whiteness itself, light and ethereal. It carried both curiosity and wariness.

  “Lunarex?” The bald archmage sounded bewildered. “Why are you speaking to him?”

  Spirits didn't typically communicate directly with anyone other than their contractors. For Lunarex to address Daniel meant something had caught her attention, something significant enough to break protocol.

  Ignoring the man, Daniel replied to the question. “Well, not directly. But your sister has mentioned you a few times.”

  The domain pulsed with power, rippling like disturbed water. The emotion behind it was clear even without words—anger, or something close to it.

  ‘As if a human would know who my dearest sister is.’

  The words carried more than scorn—there was grief there, old and deep.

  And when he considered why, it was easy to understand. Her sister had been missing for a millennium.

  “...I’m sorry, Lunarex. You probably missed her, right?”

  ‘...Are you…?’

  It's time.

  Daniel reached deep into his core, to the place where his oldest bonds slept. To the four ancient powers that had stood by Artorias through everything, right up until the end.

  Everyone. It's time to wake up from your slumber.

  From the depths of his being, four ancient powers stirred. Artorias's oldest companions, silent for a millennium, finally heard their master's call.