Way of the Knights

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"Hold on, wait a minute." Raven raised a hand and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The House of Zeus will need a Lord soon. And I, along with the other Battle Maids, hope for you to be the one who will inherit this mantle." Kyrie stated in a straight forward manner. 

Raven was stunned. He looked at her expression and saw that she was dead serious about her words, which caused Raven to feel really conflicted.

"…I don't think you've got the right person." Raven stated weakly, not because he thought that it's a shame to not become the lord of House Zeus but because he's dreading the fact that he'll be in debt. 

He shouldn't have taken a sip out of that tea. 

"Young Lord, there's no way that I, nor the other Battle Maids, will be mistaken." Kyrie stated simply. But Raven still shook his head. 

"Look, I really don't think you've got the right person." He stated, not even waiting for Kyrie to say something he continued: "I'm convinced that you must've been monitoring the people who arrive at that room - the one that has the three chalice. I don't know if you saw or felt what I did but I'm pretty certain that neither Poseidon, Hades, or Forefather Zeus, deemed me worthy."

"When I filled the chalices with my blood. I only saw blurry images of the three ancestors. When Poseidon appeared, he pointed a trident at my forehead, aside from feeling warm, I felt nothing else before his chalice disappeared from my sight. For Hades, I just received a short flashback of my life, nothing else."

"As for Zeus, I can't recall anything. I lost consciousness before I could even see him. When I woke up, his silhouette had already dispersed."

"I was so confused but I can't do anything about it. I am new to the sect, there's many things that I don't understand yet so I just exited from there. And then you suddenly arrived, you know the rest."

Raven unhesitatingly revealed his experiences to Kyrie, being as transparent as possible to hopefully, lessen his future debt. 

"If I truly am supposed to be the 'Young Lord' of the House of Zeus, then wouldn't you think that something else, aside from losing consciousness, will happen when the Forefather passed down his mantle to me? But nothing else happened. I just lost consciousness and that's it. I don't even feel anything changed within me, so I really think that you've got the wrong person." Raven finished explaining while wearing a wry smile.

Hopefully she won't get too pissed about this and bury Raven in a massive debt. Raven nervously wait for Kyrie to speak, he thought that the woman was probably making calculations on how many Merit Points he owe her. But when she spoke, her words truly stunned him. 

"This, is even better than I have imagined.' Kyrie bloomed into a jubilant smile. "As expected of the Young Lord, formidable. Truly formidable."

"What are you - "

"Take a look, Young Lord." Kyrie interrupted him by waving her hand. She controlled the moisture in the air and formed a mirror out of it, allowing Raven to see himself. 

At first, Raven was confused about why she wanted him to look at his reflection but when he saw himself, he couldn't help but raise a brow. 

Raven looked just like how he expected himself to look like. What surprised him is the tattoo on his forehead which looked like a thunderbolt. 

That caused him to raise a brow. He can't remember having this tattoo before. His memories were intact and he's pretty sure that he wasn't the one to placed this to himself. 

Sensing his confusion, Kyrie explained: "A Thunderbolt Mark, a unique mark that only appears on the Forefather's 'Chosen' people."

"You've said it yourself, Young Lord. Forefather Zeus is the King of Gods, Ruler of the Skies. Lord of Thunder and Lightning."

"Back when he's still alive, Forefather Zeus carved his legend accompanied with golden thunder and lightning. He stood at the peak and every enemy of his dreaded his ability to command the ever-so-powerful element."

"You possessing this mark means that you are his 'Chosen', and that I indeed have not mistaken you for someone else. Forefather's vision and wisdom is capable of transcending even Time itself. There is a high possibility that he was the one who left this mark on you."

"I can say this for certain, you aren't first one who bore this mark. I've witnessed other candidates before and all of the bore the same marking as you do. Which is why I am certain that I'm not mistaken."

Kyrie's explanation caused Raven to be momentarily stunned. He subconsciously touched the thunderbolt mark on his forehead and felt somewhat surreal. 

No one can blame him for still not being convinced. After all, this situation was too sudden and too weird. From his experiences on the Chalice Room, he just can't bring himself to believe that he was made a 'Chosen' just like that. 

"Hold on…" Raven suddenly recalled an important detail which he nearly missed. "Candidates? There's going to be a competition?" 

"Indeed, Young Lord." Kyrie stated, she then explained: "For reasons unknown to us, Forefather Zeus as well as his brothers - Poseidon and Hades, opted to choose multiple candidates to inherit their title. However, according to the rules - which they personally implemented themselves, only a single candidate will inevitably inherit their mantles, which means that all candidates will be pitted against each other and only one will come out on top and will become the true inheritor."

'Great.' Raven inwardly rolled his eyes. 'It's my fault for having the wrong idea. Inheriting the mantle of the Forefather. Aside from honor, the sheer amount of resources one could get access to will certainly be massive. All of that makes total sense. And when you add the fact that the winner takes all, this just becomes even more troublesome.'

"You said that you are a Battle Maid and there are others like you." Raven said, to which Kyrie nodded. "Does that mean that you guys are divided? I mean, now that I know that there are other candidates like me, it just doesn't make sense to me why would you choose me instead of the other candidates. They're probably stronger than me and thus have a higher chances of winning this competition amongst candidates. Why not pick them?"

"Please don't sell yourself short, Young Lord. For you to be chosen as a candidate by none other than the Forefather himself, means that he deemed you worthy." Kyrie stated, "But, to answer your question. Me and my fellow Battle Maids had been sent to serve different Lords in the first place. There's no need to worry about our fates since no matter who ended up being the next 'Zeus' will automatically be our one and true lord. Of course, it'll be a bonus for us if our Young Lord eventually claims the throne."

'Ah, so she had no other choice. It's either she's oath-bound or she has a few screws loose. Either way, not my problem.' Raven inwardly thought. 

"How may candidates are there?" He asked. 

"You're the 9th." Kyrie answered. 

'Nine, that number again. I'm starting to think that it's haunting me. I'm also the 9th Heir Candidate to the Crown. What's up with this?' Raven sighed inwardly and was confused. 

"Pardon my words. This might sound offensive to you but…do I have choice?" Raven's question basically translates to 'Can I not participate in this troublesome competition'.

"Yes you do, Young Lord. However…" Kyrie's tone turned somber as she continued: "While us, Battle Maids, won't take offense for your rejection of the role, the Forefather might not take it kindly. I can't so sure but I've heard rumors in the past when someone tried to reject the role and they suffered a miserable fate. It's said to be the righteous indignation of the Forefather."

'A simple 'No' would've sufficed.' Raven fought the urge to roll his eyes at this explanation. However, he didn't dare to show it. 

"Is there a current Zeus?" He asked.

"There is." Kyrie answered, "It's the Grand Elder of the sect." 

'Good to know.' Raven murmured.

"Okay, so…what's in it for me?" Raven asked, "I mean, yeah it's an honor to be chosen by the Forefather and all, but if I'm being honest, Honor alone wouldn't help me become stronger. Inheriting the mantle of the Forefather means that I'll most likely be sent in the frontlines and fight hordes of Devils. Of course, some support to help me will be much appreciated."

"Of course, that goes without saying Young Lord. If there's nothing to gain aside from honor, then I'm afraid that there will be no candidates or even an inheritor at all." Kyrie giggled. 

"As a 'Chosen', you'll gain numerous privileges that could help you aid our sect's cause. You will receive an allowance and will be permitted to visit environment that's off-limits to regular disciples."

"And to top this all off, if you my dear Young Lord, officially becomes the next 'Zeus', then you will also be the next Grand Elder of the Ancient Elysium Sect."

"Great, I'm in."