Leon Fia Blackmore,
By request of her Majesty Princess Hertrude Sera Fanoss you and your knight order are hereby assigned to act as guards to the princess of Fanoss for the duration of her stay during the new exchange student program with the Principality of Fanoss. During her stay at the academy you will be responsible for her safety.
Your King Roland Rapha Holfort
PS: That means you can't lure her into another ambush
Leon stared blankly ahead at the young woman before him. Hertrude was almost exactly the way he left her that morning, minus the fact that she was covered in bruises and was bleeding from the nose back then. He then turned his attention to the Royal messenger and the letter that he delivered from the Queen.
"Are you serious?" Leon wore his annoyance on his face. This is the seventh person the royal family has assigned him to babysit, and the sixth that's tried to take a shot at him. If Leon didn't think the royal family weren't trying to piss him off back at his promotion ceremony he's gotten confirmation right now. "You know, I seem to remember getting a request from someone much like you asking me not to summon demons in the middle of the town and sending them on a rampage." Leon's hair flared up again as a black creature with four heads appeared behind him once more growling threateningly. "It would be nice if the royal family would stop showing me the same blatant hostility that they've warned me not to show them."
"You misunderstand sir Count." The Messenger was playing with his moustache as he spoke. "Your position and rank is an honour, a representation of your ability, an acknowledgement from the royal family in regards to your-"
"HIIISSSKKK!" A Black Snake suddenly wrapped its jaws around the royal messenger's head.
"If I receive any more 'honours' like these from the Royal Family then I am going to go over there and 'honour' them with my presence am I making myself clear?" Several thoughts went through the Royal Messenger's mind, but they boiled down to one.
"Understood."
The Black Demon heads disappeared back into Leon's hair, which left the other annoyance to deal with.
"Greetings once again Sir Black-" Hertrude was interrupted by Leon grabbing Hertrude by her head and picking her up to carry her off. "Ow! Ow! Ow! I demand you cease carrying me in this manner at once!" Leon tossed his charge into the air, grabbed her by her ankle, and started to drag her along. "I demand that you cease carrying me completely!" At once Leon wound up for a pitch and threw his charge across the royal capital.
Angelica looked down at the form that she received from the Royal Family. There were a few different possibilities that came to mind to Angelica.
First someone was trying to provoke Leon into attacking the royal family, which would give Casus Belli to whatever 'anti-Leon' faction that's trying to work against him the excuse needed to get rid of him, but this made the least amount of sense given what Angelica knows, before anyone thinks about trying to 'get rid of' Leon they should try and gain the military power that such a scenario becomes theoretically possible first.
The second possibility was that the Royal Family was deliberately trying to get Leon to kill Hertrude, they already know about how much of a grudge Leon can hold, it is entirely possible that Hertrude can induce some kind of offence that demands 'one thousand punches' just like Julius did, and given how rail thin and frail that she is a beating like that would beat her to death. Then Fanoss's other princess Hertraude would respond appropriately and focus the sum total of their invasion force on Leon's territory in order to wear them down, which would still allow them to launch a attack on Leon.
"Either way so long as Leon doesn't lose his temper and do anything foolish-" Angelica's breath caught in her throat as she heard familiar screaming and a figure sailing through the air, without any means of propulsion to their person. "Oh Damnit!"
Hertrude was caught before she could hit the ground, and as a result was now hanging in the air by her ankle where she had been grabbed.
"How did you get here before me!?" Leon glared as he held his prisoner upside down by her ankle. "Do not look up my skirt you pervert!" Hertrude did her best to cover her nether regions while she shouted. Leon in the mean time was studying her having seemingly figured something out since a while ago and was now concluding it.
"Oi how often do you listen to that flute when you were playing it?" Leon asked looking concerned.
"Would you please divert your lustful gaze else where?" Hertrude was started to show signs that the blood was rushing to her head if her blush was any indication. Leon on the other hand just shot her a pitiful look. "WHAT IS THAT LOOK OF PITY FOR!?" Hertrude snapped angrily screeching like a harpy.
Leon just let out a sigh as he flipped Hertrude over again. After a few moments of scanning the horizon Leon found exactly what he needed, a scapegoat to toss this hand grenade at while he works on actual solutions to deal with his problems.
Name: Julius Rapha Holfort
Age: 15
Prior Work Experience: Crown Prince
Other Skills: Adventurer, Sword and Shield Fighter, Earth Mage, Amateur Cook
The Old man working the food stall looked down pale face at the contents of the resume, and looked back up at the young man who had given it to him, who he unfortunately understood to be the crown prince of the Nation.
"Your Majesty-"
"Call me Julius." The Disowned Crown Prince stated raising his hand in an attempt to placate the old man.
"Julius, be honest with me: are you playing a prank on me?"
"What?" Julius was left flabbergasted by the old man, a reaction that the old man in question wanted for himself. As the two of them were having this back and forth a figure was abruptly dropped onto a nearby table with a loud crash, Hertrude.
"Keep an eye on her, and make sure that she doesn't go anywhere!" And then Leon jumped from roof top to roof top.
"Leon!" Luckily for him the person he most wanted to talk to had come looking for him. "Please tell me that you didn't hurl the crown princess of Fanoss across the capital!"
"We need to talk." Leon's concerns however were entirely different.
The two ended up retreating into the back rooms of Jenna's store, there Angelica proceeded to rip into Leon about the severity of his situation with Fanoss and the incredible need to not provoke them less his family ends up dealing with them all on their own. As it stands though there may be bigger problems to deal with.
"A demon?" Angelica asked sounding concerned. "You think she's possessed like I was?"
"Mmm. Closer to being the demon in her case." Leon stated letting out a sigh. "You know that if people get hit with too much demon shit they turn into one?" Angelica nodded and Leon gestured as if indicating that his point had been made. "That damned flute rips out everything good from the people who hear it and turns them into Angels, so what kind of effect do you think it has on Hertrude who plays it constantly?" Angelica held her chin in her hand to Leon's question.
"Is there a way to save her?" Angelica asked looking at Leon. All things considered, Angelica was Hertrude's cousin, they had been close once. Even then Hertrude's current circumstances are not entirely her fault, she and her sister lost their parents, they were raised by the same brand of war hungry sociopaths that separated from Holfort in the Process, hell considering how old Vandel was they could've been raised by the same war hungry sociopaths. If she was being forced to play that damned flute over and over again by them...
"I don't know." That was the most terrifying aspect of this to Angelica. "At this point everything depends on Hertrude herself. Unlike you and Julius I can't simply use a ritual to rip the demon out of her it'll take what's left of her soul with it."
"Wait hold on." They would get back to Hertrude later, but for now Angelica had zeroed in on something completely different. "Julius is possessed too?"
"Yeah. There's a big knot of Resentment inside of him clawing to get out." Leon stated bluntly. "So?"
"Did it occur to you that this was the kind of information that would be relevant to know?" Angelica gave a exasperated sigh with this question.
"Not really." Leon stated shrugging his shoulders. "Even knowing that its there is there any real point in removing it when the root cause of his resentment isn't dealt with?" Leon cleaned his ear as he talked, like the subject was something so completely irrelevant to him that it wasn't even worth noting. "We should go back to discussing what we're going to do about your cousin, unless you'd rather talk about why I think your ex neither can be nor deserves to be helped?"
Avalon Forest can in its own way be considered four separate dungeons rolled into one, Fire, Water, Wood and Earth divided across four separate areas.
First among these area's is Fire, once upon a time this place was a fortress belonging to the fae who dominate these woods, here they conducted experiments to extract the angelic and demonic essence of those who enter the dungeons and domesticate the end result to their whims.
Now it's a forge for Rodin, powered by the elemental core of fire that once fuelled the Fairies base. Here Rodin smelts demonic and angelic materials to craft his weapons of war, locked in a ever constant arms race to produce new weapons faster than the Fae can steal their designs and integrate them into whatever new dungeon that they set up. As a artist the Lord of Creation and Destruction despises the notion of his work being plagiarised.
A travel Guide to the Avalaon Forest, Written Anomously
The sound of Roaring Flame and the Thunder of a Hammer slamming into metal. Here art was being created, sheets of metal were being hammered flat, pieces carved out and reshaped as complex mechanical parts were forged, crafted and discarded for the smallest of defects or at the whims of the designer.
"That's the third design you've thrown out already!" Nick planted his hammer into the floor of the forged, even as a part demon he wasn't used to these hellish temperatures. "Can we please have this done!? There's all kinds of stuff we need to get done for his birthday!"
"Can't rush perfection." Rodin didn't even look hot, in fact he didn't even have the common courtesy to change out of his trade mark sweater vest as he looked at the blue prints, again. "Once the forging is completed this weapon will become a part of Leon's very soul, I will not tolerate a single defect."
Rodin looked down at the materials that he had been working with, Gilgamesh, Red Orbs, and other materials that were harder to find, like Adamantine, most precious of all a bracelet of purple orbs containing the demonic power of someone very important to them both. Each material must be carefully purified and combined in exact ratio's to ensure that nothing less than the perfect result is achieved. Every defect would be hammered flat, shaved off or else the entire piece simply smelted down and re-processed into raw material. At their current rate they had about half of the parts that they needed which met Rodin's high standards, considering how long it was taking them to make each piece it was entirely possible that they wouldn't finish in time for Leon's birthday.
"So have you called them yet?" Nick asked as he emptied the contents of a water bottle down his throat.
"What? That Leon was nearly killed in the process of fighting against the Black Knight?" Rodin knew better than anyone the importance of the task Cereza and Jeanne had taken to. "Yes I have told them, it seems that they've switched with Charles and are on their way back to Holfort as we speak." Rodin stated making his opinion known.
"And why weren't the Lumens the ones dealing with this mess in the first place?" Considering the demonic nature of the enemy one would think that the clan of angel wielders would be first pick for putting the creature down.
"Because despite what the trail of wreckage they leave behind in their wake would imply, your parents have a strong enough sense of responsibility to kill the monster that they made." Rodin countered bluntly. "Now if you're only going to complain then lea-" And Suddenly Rodin Disappeared.
Arcadia: A Demon of Technology Forged From Ambition.
During the Shattering War the most terrible of the creatures spread by the fusing of worlds were not Angel or Demon but the Homunculi, crude attempts to remake humanity through technology but purged of all positive or negative emotion that would give birth to Angels or Demons, beings of pure logic. During the course of the war numerous powerful Homunculi fused together from thousands of humans were delivered into the waiting Jaws of Inferno and the Hands of Paradiso.
Arcadia was born of Inferno, the many Humonculi sent into it became corrupted by the demonic energy, mutating into a new horror few can imagine, a demon lord governing Logic and Reason taken to it's most malicious extremes. Each time Arcadia has been killed a piece of it has been shaved off and turned into a formidable Devil Arm which is sealed away, but again and again Arcadia returns leaving it's seeds everywhere it goes to one day ensure that it will be revived once again.
Excerpt from Lemegeton's Guidebook of Demons
The giant mass of Nanotechnology and Red Orbs was hit again and sent flying away.
"Now now old man. You really should Learn to stay down!" One of the women that had been responsible for the last blow gave a mocking kiss to the creature that she had spent the past several hours hammering with attacks largely consisting of punches and kicks, with the aide of her contracted demoness of course a giant woman with butterfly wings, Cereza Blackmore and her Partner Madama Butterfly.
"Not too far down now!" Another woman with white hair and a red Jumpsuit had been fighting from below, unleashing countless attacks with shotguns, bazookas, a bow and arrow and her derringer type hand guns, Jeanne Blackmore. While Cereza had been doing the majority of the work knocking the pieces off Jeanne was destroying as many of the pieces as possible. "If they get lost into the water then we'll never be able to get them all!"
"You leave that to me!" A third individual was present as well, a Black haired priest dressed in white and gold robes, one with a lean but fit body with long arms and limbs pushing past eight feet tall, the most notable feature on his face being a set of round glasses. As if his mode of dress was not enough evidence of his identity then the monster he had been standing on did, a giant white lizard shaped mechanical beast with dozens of ports for missiles and other weapons, not a demon but in fact one of the Cardinal Virtues of Paradiso: Sapientia.
Artists have often depicted the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence, Sapientia, as a marine animal roaming the depths of the sea. This is likely due to the human disposition to characterise the sea as the source of all life, a veritable fountain of prudence and wisdom.
It is also thought that Sapientia is responsible for the rise and fall of the tides, and natural phenomena such as tsunamis. The grand idea that the living seas could be nothing other than the Divine Will at work is actually evidence of Sapientia's narcissism, even amongst the other Cardinal Virtues.
When a man born as a slave led his people to freedom from ruling oppression, it is said that it was only Sapientia's favour that parted the seas and allowed for their escape.
Excerpt from the Hierarchy of Laguna
"Ge?" The artillery lizard like angel seemed to misconstrue the distribution of the work load here. "Ol zir gnay a vaul kures!"
"If you're feeling tired you can switch with Fortitudo." For one thing he, Charles Whitehill, was the one providing the great beast with the magical energy keeping him in this world and fuelling his artillery strikes, in his mind the Angel had no right to complain about the distribution of work.
"Page?" The Big metal lizard actually looked offended at that. At once all of it's weapons opened up and opened fire all at once lining the Horizon with explosives.
"That was a waste of magical energy." The group's annual offensive was joined by a fourth member. The Lumen and Umbran clans sent personnel to deal with Arcadia on the regular, two Umbran and a Lumen. However now they were joined by a third faction, a heavily armed ship of the old world whose powerful weapons and inbuilt factory was producing machines to counteract Arcadia directly and it's mass produced armours were slaughtering the hundreds of lesser Homunculi that split off of Arcadia, The Colonial Ship Luxion. "If you cannot control your beast better I will put it down!"
"G prdzar-" Charles interrupted a attempt to charge a energy beam by Sapientia with a foot stomp.
"Less talking more laser beams."
"Your resistance is futile." Arcadia, who had largely been silent up until now, suddenly spoke up. "I am inevitable!"
"Get ready! We're going to summon Rodin!" Cereza shouted as she did a pose on Luxion's deck.
"Is this some kind of finishing move?" Luxion questioned what was happening.
"Pretty much! A normal attack won't be enough to defeat that thing in a timely fashion." Jeanne observed Charles join Bayonetta on the deck.
"Tox Ioiad!" Cereza and Charles had begun to dance together, Luxion had their son for reference point but he still had a hard time believing the dancing was necessary.
"Tabaan C Qaa!"
Their dual incantation finished, a new massive figure appeared, a huge demonic black figure with white clothes and twelve long tendril like wings sticking out of his back. The figure pulled out a pair of sun glasses from his robes and put them on his face before he got to work.
Rodin was a rare example of a being who balanced the Demonic and Angelic elements, on par with few beings, some of whom technically didn't even exist anymore. There were unique aspects that could only be summoned by either the Umbran or the Lumen, but when they combined their rituals together, then this happens.
Arcadia was a monster that could shatter islands and sink continents, but even he knew when he was outmatched, and so the demonic mass of nanotechnology turned around and fled with it's equivalent to it's tail between it's non existent legs. Rodin cracked his knuckles and then slammed both of his hands together with full force, squishing Arcadia between both of his hands. The creature let out a pathetic scream as Rodin rolled and kneaded the monster like dough, soon the screaming stopped, the new weapon was left on the deck and the Lord of Creation and Destruction vanished.
"I would like to examine that item for the time being." Luxion suddenly piped up prompting his new allies to turn to face the floating sphere that appeared on deck. "If I can analyse the programming of the nanomatter within I may be able to write a virus to eliminate Arcadia, or failing that make it vastly more pleasant to deal with."
"Fine, fine. We're car pooling on the way back to Holfort any way so we can hash out the details anyway." Cereza stated as she shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm going to have to skip out on that trip." Charles however had made different plans. "I have to go check on Arkham's seal." Cereza wasn't the only one who tossed particularly unpleasant Humonculi where they shouldn't have after all. "I'll let you know when they wake up."
Bazillions: Four guns created using technology of a super-civilisation.
Powered by an energy source known as Bazillionium, the deep crimson flash from the guns instantly breaks down the molecular bonds within its target dealing huge amounts of damage. Able to discern the intent of its user, it is said that these strange, miraculous guns have the power to open a portal to another dimension of pure energy unleashing mass devastation. Because of the material they were made from, the guns have also gained demonic powers, making them an incredible threat to the denizens of Paradiso.
Excerpt from Rodin's Weapons Catalogue
Julius was being stared at with looks of disdain.
Honestly? It was a little bit refreshing.
Usually when Julius is around women he has to deal with them fawning over him or flattering him trying to get access to money from him. Here was someone who looked at him with disdain, as if he was the physical embodiment of filth.
"I have no idea what you are even doing here!" Hertrude turned her nose up at her conversational partner. "I specifically asked for the Demon Knight to be my escort, not the fallen prince of this vile kingdom!"
"That's probably because I'm working under him." Julius stated as he let out a sigh. You attempt to requisition one tiny armour in order to go fight against the enemy with your friends and suddenly you find yourself assigned under the most despised man in the Kingdom. A loud thunk indicated an immediate shift in the atmosphere at the table.
"Tell me everything you know!" Admittedly that was the kind of gaze that he was use to. Thus Julius ended up as the one to recount his knowledge of Leon.
The First time that Julius became aware of Leon was when Angelica had informed him that she was planning to attend Leon's tea party instead of his-
"Odd that doesn't sound like Angelica."
The first time he saw Leon was during the first dungeon dive for the school year where he alongside Angelica and the scholarship student apparently made a mint in drop items.
"Really!? He must have come out of the dungeon carrying mountains of orbs!"
It was a little while later before he saw Leon again, wherein he was looking for his own girlfriend and through logical deduction determined that Angelica might know something, which as it turned out was true-
"You cheated on Angelica didn't you?"
Julius got... heated, despite Master Lucas's attempts to diffuse the situation, and so he and his friends challenged Angelica to a duel to have Marie freed, and Leon stepped in as her champion.
"And he beat you like children didn't he?"
To be more accurate, Leon took advantage in a flaw in the construction of Brad's custom armour, Greg's armour was a older out of date model that had been poorly maintained, Chris by all accounts fought admirably even as Leon continued to blast off pieces of his armour one by one. By the time Jilk's and Julius's own turns came about the misunderstanding had been cleared up.
"Angelica always was good at looking after others."
After that Julius's knowledge of Leon's activities were largely second hand, he apparently some how baited a huge band of pirates into attacking him and in the process wiped out every pirate group that was operating within Holfort's borders, as well as a large portion of the nobility that had been associated with them-
"Couldn't have happened to better people."
"That's everything I know, last I heard about his 'great achievements' he was getting throttled by your Black Knight." Julius had a uncomfortable feeling after listening to thirty or so minutes of Hertrude bad mouthing him while fawning over Leon, is this how other guys in the academy feel about him and the other guys?
"In any case I must find the Demon Knight again before I-Gah!" Hertrude was interrupted by another iron claw grip that had latched onto her head.
"Who exactly are you calling a 'Demon Knight!?'" Leon asked bluntly as he glared down at Hertrude, Angelica and Olivia were standing behind him joining in on glaring at Hertrude angrily. "Release-" Hertrude opted to keep her mouth shut, she still remembered what happened the last time Leon 'Released' her.
"Enough Leon." Angelica let out a long suffering Sigh as her vassal released his grip on her cousin. "We have a lot we need to talk about with-"
"LEON!" A familiar high pitched voice like a harpy screeched out, soon a tiny saintess and her tiny elf stormed/walked over to where Leon was talking with Julius and Hertrude. "Why did the church just give just give me a bill to give to you!?"
Leon could already guess the moment he laid his eyes on the spider logo at the top of the receipt. Custom uniforms for his "knight order," each of them fitted to the exact size of each of the 'members' of his group, no doubt in his mind tailor made using the finest materials that Jenna had available to her, all on a rush job too. The Crown would've pushed the bill onto the Church, and the Church was now in the process of pushing the bill onto Leon. Obvious Malice was radiating off of Leon in waves.
"Le-Leon calm down!" Olivia was desperately trying to help Leon do exactly that.
"How exactly?" Leon was even able to confirm the contents of the bill too, not only did it include things like Jenna's Silk plate armour, but also include gold trim and emblems with jeweled buttons. Altogether it was an amount easily equivalent to how much he made during the course of the duel. "How exactly am I supposed to 'calm down' in the face of this overwhelming idiocy that I have to suffer through!? Again!" Leon had no problem paying Jenna for her services, for stuff that he actually needed, as it stood he didn't 'need' to protect these parasitic bozo's nor did he 'need' to equip them with hideously expensive items and he especially didn't 'need' any more of the Kingdom's 'honours' hoisted onto him.
"Lemme see that." Julius took the bill from Leon's hands as he read through the contents. "Is this small amount what you're so angry about?" Leon's gaze filled with Blood lust and rage turned on Julius. "I don't see what the big deal is, you have plenty of-"
"JULIUS! SHUT YOUR FACE BEFORE HE KILLS YOU!" Marie screeched to the high heavens as she desperately shook some sense into her boyfriend.
Mylene was getting ready for the evening, Luxion had informed Erica and her that it had finished it's business for the time being and would be returning to Holfort in several days, which was good as having a heavily armed warship at her beck and call would be good for when Fanoss attacks, or when Blackmore finally snaps under her idiot husband's prodding. For now it was all Mylene could do to get some rest while she still could and be ready to face the day tomorrow.
Mylene's window suddenly shattered and her bed was destroyed, the Queen spun around and saw her son laying upside down on the ruins of her furniture, a long list attached to his front. Eight custom knight uniforms, three battle mages and five warriors, made using demonic silk and Empusa Spit to produce hardened plates, different coloured jewels used for the buttons and emblems embroidered with gold and golden thread. Finally a note at the bottom with another note attached to it.
'I hope you're not planning on making my brother pay for all of this.' As well as 'I'm only paying for the ones for Angelica and Olivia, cover for your own crap.'
Slowly, Mylene's hands crumbled and tore at the bill, overwhelmed by an emotion that she could only summarise as pure, unbridled fury.
"RRROOOLLLAAANNNDDD!"
Angelica Rapha Redgrave: Master Lucas, we need you to arrange time off for our group from the school to go on an adventure!
Sir Lucas: After the incident with the Black Knight I would assume that you have had enough excitement for a while.
Angelica: We can't send Leon back into the royal Dungeon right now or he'll shatter it! So we don't have any choice!
Lucas: What happened?
Angelica: The King racked up a 3 billion Dia order at Leon's sister's store and then dumped the bill on Leon through the Church! I'm telling you that if we don't get him out of the capital then he's going to kill someone!
Lucas: I'll clear the matter with the school, what exactly is the order for?
Angelica: Overpriced protective gear for his stupid son and his friends as part of Leon's new 'knight order.'
Lucas: The Elven ruins don't seem to have any bookings to my memory. After you've left I'll have a word with his Majesty about trying to provoke the promising nobles into trying to kill him. Again.
Angelica: He does this sort of thing a lot?
Lucas: He 'likes the challenge.'
Transcript of a conversation between Angelica Rapha Redgrave and Sir Lucas of Holfort
Review Section:
RonaldM40196867: I have a few problems with Canon Leon, I do like his revenge plot against Piere in the Fourth Volume.
RedRat8: Roland shall receive his due comuppance soon enough I assure you.
KadoyaOkami: I think that was the whole 'watch her sister die' thing that happened in Canon. But yes I agree she at least deserves a beating. Lemme tell you a little something about Canon Marquis Frampton: his plan consisted of pulling back Holfort's forces and Letting the Redgraves and those under them getting decimated by them, then when he came up to the plate he would 'defeat' a retreating Principality, reclaiming the majority newly conquered territory as part of his territory. It was entirely dependent on the Principality retreating from the Territory that they had just conquered for no real benefit to themselves based solely upon some deal that the two of them hashed out.