Katra had to use all his strength not to drop his jaw hearing these words.

"Up my... what the hell did you just say?!"

"You heard me. This alliance is a sham. You know that nobody in my family has a power suited for fighting."

"Any ability can be used for fighting given enough wits."

"Yah? Well, not my families’ abilities."

"If you’re really so confident, I will sit here with you and go through each of their abilities personally and create a strategy."

"Listen, even if you did, we’ve never seen combat before. They would hardly provide anything to you guys. You would only be using them as meat shields for yourselves."

"Are you saying your family is worthless?"

"That’s not what I said."

"Why don’t you have more faith in them?"

"Because I don’t want to lose anymore."

"I know what happened to Iris was terrible, but this is different."

"Tell me, do you enjoy being the kings dog?"

Katra started getting angry.

"Watch what you say."

"I’m just saying, he hid on his throne and used you to scout out a dangerous mission. One that you barely came back alive from. Do you need to look in a mirror to remember that? The proof will stay on your eye for as long as you breathe."

"I can always get Doc to fix myself. I don’t mind being scarred."

"Oh really? Is that it, or can he just not fix it?"

Katra went silent for three moments.

"Just listen to what I’m offering you, Lidia. Please."

"Fine."

"We will work with your people. We can train them, prepare them, show them what a real fight is!"

"My people are not soldiers, Katra. And besides, the people in the fields will be overloaded with work if we leave."

"There won’t be any workers to come back to if we fail. Think about the people in the kingdom Lidia, not just us nobles."

"That’s real funny coming from you. You would throw them in harm’s way the moment you need to save yourself. Besides, I have another thing I want to offer to you. It’s an opportunity that we will never have again for as long as we live."

"And what would that be?"

Lidia started to smile.

"The opportunity to create a new kingdom" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Katra’s faced dropped by Lidia’s implication.

"Lidia... you can’t mean-"

"Oh, I mean it. I’ve about had it with that old bastard and his corruption. It’s time we show him what happens when he underestimates us and treats those below him so terribly."

"Lidia. You can’t be serious."

Lidia remained smiling. Her expression didn’t waver for a single moment.

"Think about it Katra. What do you think would’ve happened to your daughter if she was never given a power?"

"Don’t bring my daughter into this."

"But she needs to be a part of this. Your daughter, both of our daughters are the future of this kingdom. Do you really want her to grow up in a palace where her life could be forfeit by the slightest disagreement?"

Even if he didn’t show it, Lidia’s words were cutting through Katra like a knife. He cared for his daughter more than anything in the world.

"Lidia, things are fine the way they are now. The kingdom has known peace for quite a while. What’s wrong with trying to keep that peace?"

"Again, is your daughter’s life a fair price to pay for that so called peace that you preach? Snap out of it Katra. This isn’t peace. We are all slaves in this kingdom. Everything we will ever do and say is because of the king’s influence. He rules us with fear. That is no way to rule a kingdom."

"Do you think you can do better?"

"I know someone who can do better. He’s out there trying to save the kingdom as we speak. It’s not because his father ordered him to. His father made him believe that if he didn’t do this, the entire kingdom was going to lose their lives."

"Madness. What you’re asking me to do is madness."

"You don’t have to help me. I’m tired of licking the king’s boot. I will not have my daughter or any of my family grow up under such a terrible ruler. She deserves to live where her dreams can be realized without worry of punishment."

Katra thought long and hard about what she was saying. Overthrowing the king was going to be an extremely difficult task. There wasn’t enough known about him to do anything.

"So, are you saying we should let the man who can duplicate himself lay siege to this kingdom? Wouldn’t the last thing we need right now be civil unrest?"

"Maybe they don’t have to lay siege if he knows we’re on their side."

Suddenly, an idea struck Katra’s mind.

"I’ll tell you what. Let’s have a fun bet, if you’re willing to hear out the conditions."

Lidia sighed to herself.

"What is it?"

"We will have our two clans spar each other. We can do two teams of five each. Whichever Clan can secure two wins will be the winner. If they end up tying, we can break the tie ourselves. How does that sound?"

"And what do I get if I win?"

"I will not only help you take down the king personally, but I will get you two birthday gifts to make up for the one I missed."

Lidia’s eyes roared with greed.

"And what do you get if we lose?"

"I wouldn’t be asking for you to follow the king, but I want you and your clan to help me eliminate the duplicating man for good. His power is too great to exist in this world."

Lidia thought to herself for a few moments before answering.

"Where would we have these spars? I’m assuming we aren’t letting the king know, correct?"

"On the contrary. I’m going to be labelling it as training for your clan. It will be taking place outside the kingdom by the lake."

Lidia reached out her hand across the table.

"You have yourself a deal."

With no hesitation, Katra met her hand with his and shook it firmly. They both sat back in their chairs and were met with awkward silence.

"Do you really think we can defeat the king?"

Lidia started laughing.

"Absolutely not! In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to puke! I can’t believe you agreed to something so crazy!"

Katra wanted to slap himself in the face.

’This woman’s craziness knows no bounds...’

Lidia suddenly stared at him with a fearful expression.

"I think it’s time I told you what I think my daughter found out."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Before she was killed, she was talking to me a bit about her power and how something was wrong with it. Did you ever know what her power was?"

"I never knew she had a power, but I assumed if she did have one it had to do with plants or something."

"Well, her power directly mimicked the kings power. She had the ability to control the blood of others."

"Interesting. Why didn’t you send her my way? That sounds like an extremely powerful combat power if used properly."

"She was my daughter, Katra..."

Katra started blushing out of embarrassment.

"S-Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. Anyway, what was she telling you about it?"

"She said that she was feeling something flow under the kingdom itself, like the kingdom was alive."

"Interesting. I’ve never heard of a power that didn’t work properly before."

"Maybe because it was working properly."

Katra’s heart dropped.

"Are you trying to say this kingdom is alive?"

"Not really, but I am trying to say there’s a chance that something is right underneath our feet that we don’t know anything about."

"So, what do we do about it?"

"There’s really nothing we can do about it. I was just warning you just so you could be aware."

Just then, a loud man burst through the Katra door. It was Gabriel. He was whistling a tune while he walked right up the Katra and tried to give him a high five. However, Katra just stared at him blankly and Gabriel put his hand down pretending not to be embarrassed.

"I have returned Mr. Katra! I must say, I just do an amazing job, don’t I? Feel free to compliment me anytime you wish! It’s always welcome!"

"Why do you even keep that guy around, Zeke? He’s so annoying!"

Gabriel yelled back at Lidia.

"Hey! I’m right here, you know?!"

"Did someone say something?"

Before Gabriel could continue, Katra sat up from his chair and started escorting Gabriel away.

"Meet all of us tomorrow morning by the lake, and wear clothes that won’t get torn easily."

"I’ll see you then."