The arena was awash with the voices of thousands as Damien appeared, stepping through a token-created portal to land on the highest level of the arena.

  The last time he'd been to this place, it had been fairly empty, devoid of stands, crowds, and all the other whatnots that pointed at it being an arena. It had simply been a vast, sand-covered expanse with separated from the rest of the world by a dome of essence.

  This time, though, it was different.

  Surrounding the miles-wide arena were large tiered stands, rising up and up into the sky, so much so that Damien figured the only way he could see the arena grounds was because he was a Spirit lord.

  He confirmed this when Vanis confirmed that this level was mainly reserved for upper-tiered Spirit lords and Spirit Kings.

  Damien's eyes widened when he looked around, watching the countless people sitting.

  There were so many races that he didn't even know where to start. Humans were the majority, followed by the other great races; the elves, who were amongst the quiet few. The elementals, who were like blinking touches amongst a sea of darkness. The dwarves, whose voices rang just as loud as the beastkins. And then there were the races that Damien didn't know about. The human-looking person with two pointed ears on both sides of their head. The ones with slitted eyes like those of cats and snakes. Or the ones with the noses of dogs.

  Damien didn't know what race they were, and would have pegged them as beastkin if not for the fact that beastkins were monsters who gained true sapience. They still retained their beastly appearance, though with the fortunacy of being able to walk like bipedals.

  These looked fairly human, except for tiny details in their facial features that made them out to be different.

  "Vanis?" Damien called at the same time as he walked step in step behind the young lord, following as the Verrille lord led them towards a tower-like structure close by, jutting out into the sky like the pointy tips of a crown. There were more of them around the arena, interspaced between the rows of large seating.

  "Yes?"

  "If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me about these people?" Damien pointed, making sure to be discreet enough that no one noticed him. "They look human but have features linked to other races. I'm confused."

  "Oh," the young lord nodded after following Damien's finger. "You speak of the Homo Secondus."

  "Homo Secondus?"

  "Yes, the seconds. They're children born from the union of human and other races."

  "So that means—" Damien said slowly. "—That the woman with pointy ears was born from a human and an elf?"

  "Or she could've been born from a human and a wolf, or any beast with pointed ears."

  Damien frowned, mind blown. He tried to say something, but the words just couldn't come out. So Keilan came to his rescue.

  "How's that even possible?" His brother said. "How... how does that work? A human and a beastkin?"

  Vanis chuckled, nodding gently to a standing guard who bowed towards him as they passed. There were other people as well, sitting down with their eyes trained towards the grounds below. But they all turned just as they approached. Some stood up and bowed while others kept sitting, faces neutral as they watched Vanis approach.

  Their eyes all turned towards Damien and his brother as they walked behind the Verrille young lord. He saw a ton of curiosity, as well as a lot more envy. Despite this, though, he continued on, pretending like he never saw it.

  "Love conquers all, I guess," the Verrille lord continued. "The union between the different races has always been in existence for as long as I can remember. As long as the Alliance of Lese has been around, even. Although it is in contention in some nations, it has always been accepted not only in Lese, but in most of the great fringe nations, too, except for the Aveanii."

  "Why's that?"

  Vanis looked at him like it should have been obvious. "You have met the Aveanii. What did you take away from your meeting?"

  "Haughty. Egotistical. Psychopathic." Damien shrugged. "In short, they're mad."

  "They're more Supremacists than mad. The Aveanii are a species that believes themselves above everyone else, even above the Supreme Species. Mating with any other race other than an Aveanii is taboo to them. You understand me now?"

  Damien nodded just as the young lord pushed open a section of the tower-like structure adjoining the stands. It melted, flowing out of the way like liquid metal, and the inside of the structure was soon bared to them.

  Damien had known from the beginning that this structure had been the equivalent of a vip section, where all the truly important people stayed. What he hadn't expected it to be was the VIP section.

  The inside looked no different from the stands outside. It had been closed from the outside, likely because of what Damien realized now was an illusion that blocked those outside from looking in. The same did not constrain the occupants inside.

  Where the view from the outside had been of a closed-off area, the inside was that of an open space, similar to the stands out there used by the masses.

  Rugs of polished red lined the floor, dripping down the mini tiers like blood tears. The walls were draped with banners showcasing the lightning-bolt emblem of House Verrille.

  There was a large screen in front of the room, a viewport which was likely linked to a construct placed directly on the ground floor, judging by the direct view of the field that was being clearly displayed.

  Multiple chairs were scattered around the room; high-backed, posh, and luxurious compared to the simple leather that filled the common stands. Damien's face morphed into a scowl when he noticed that they weren't the only ones in the room.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Oh, brother, you're back!" Vanis's twin, Solis, grinned at their entrance. The other Verrille Scion looked just as raggedy and scruffy as the first time Damien had met him. And thankfully, unlike the first time, he didn't say anything to both Damien and Keilan as they walked inside. In fact, he didn't even look at them, his face focused solely on his brother.

  A brownish tortoise sat on his lap, slowly munching on the pieces of a strange purple leaf on his lap.

  "Why do you sound surprised? I am the one fighting, after all," Vanis said as he moved to take a seat on one of the plush, high-backed seats.

  The Verrille Scion regarded the tortoise with a nod. "Hello Ellern," To which it simply paused from its munching, raising its head to look at Vanis. And strangely, it nodded back, and then turned its darkened pool of an eyes to regard the rest of them, nodding once again to Nalon, after which it went back to eating.

  The Warder said nothing, stalking forward on its four powerful legs to curl up around the seat of Vanis.

  Strange, Damien thought as he walked to take a seat on another chair, holding a sleeping Pinkie tightly to his chest.

  "That was a stupid question, wasn't it?" Solis sighed.

  "You think?" Vanis said, and then he smiled. "I'm glad to see you, brother. I heard you went off world with mother?"

  "Yeah, the forward sentries brought word that there was a monster horde sighted close to the Zeiron's system, so mother and I moved to check it out."

  "Monster horde? Zeiron's system?" Vanis said, and Damien detected a faint sense of alarm in his voice. "That's a frighteningly short distance away from us."

  "Yeah, sure," Solis waved his arms dismissively. "But it's more closer to the Zeiron's than us. Lord Zeiron will deal with it."

  "Lord Zeiron is just a Divine King, brother. How do you expect him to deal with an Astral monster horde?"

  "I don't think it's much of a problem, Van. Only a few Divine King monsters were sighted within the horde. It would be hard to take care of, sure, but they should be able to handle it."

  "Do I need to remind you how quickly an Astral horde can grow?" Vanis said with an intense expression.

  "Like I said, just a few Divine Kings." Solis shrugged.

  "I need to see mother," Vanis stood. "You, more than anyone, should be very concerned about this. I don't understand why you're this nonchalant."

  "Relax, brother," Solis growled and then physically pushed his brother back on his seat. "Focus on your duel and leave the decision-making to the adults. They know what they're doing."

  Below, Nalon, in wolf form, raised his head and growled gently.

  "You see," Solis gestured. "Even Nalon gets it."

  "But—"

  "But nothing," Solis cut in. And for the first time, Damien saw him channel the authoritative tone that seemed to be inbred in all nobles. "You either sit here calmly and await the start of your next match, or so help me Grandma, I'll throw you into that field myself."

  Vanis narrowed his eyes and seemed to have more to say when a new voice cut in.

  "Squabbling again I see, boys?"

  Damien's head snapped up just as a woman glided into the room, preceded by a storm of guards which, weirdly, were all comprised of females.

  They walked into the room in attire of orange and black light armors. The armors were made from some kind of black metal, with bright lines of orange running along the metallic surface in some kind of strange pattern.

  They held no weapons, nor were there any signs of one on them, but considering that they were all Spirit lords and we're calamities even without weapons... This didn't make Damien didn't feel any less threatened by their presence.

  Strolling in between the lines of a dozen maiden warriors was a young woman. She was different from the others in that, instead of a tight-fitting armor like the rest of the guards, she wore a long dress of deep orange, almost red. Her face was breathtaking, so much so that Damien's jaw dropped a little.

  Her skin was a pale shade of brown, and her eyes were like a mirror into a realm of blazing orange eternal flames. Her flaming red hair was done in a wave that rolled down her shoulders like a mantle. And her red-lipped mouth parted into a smile of such captivating intensity that Damien's heart skipped a beat.

  He'd seen several beautiful ladies before, even spoken with them and had some flings with a few, but Damien had to admit... He'd never seen someone as beautiful as this before in his life.

  Celestial take his soul.

  She walked into the room like she owned the place, strolling down the short stairs like she was gliding on smooth floor. She stopped just as she reached where Solis sat, bending down a little and patting the head of the tortoise on his lap.

  "Hello, Ell," she said, and then walked over to Vanis, bending down to affectionately rub the head of the giant wolf curled around his legs.

  "Hello, Nal. Nice to see you in your true form."

  The wolf shook it's head a little and then huffed.

  Damien, who'd been following the lady ever since she walked into the room, could almost swear that he sensed Nalon blush, even though there hadn't been a physical tell.

  "What are you doing here?" Vanis said flatly, only glancing once at the woman before turning back towards the screen with a distant look.

  "You wound me, Van." She pressed a gloved hand on her chest with a mock expression of hurt. "Is that anyway to greet your dearest friend?"

  The Verrille lord only snorted in reply.

  "Don't mind him, Sar. He's just sour that he didn't get to go on a trip with mother and I," Solis said and then stood up to give the woman a warm hug, which was accepted.

  "Oh? Is this about the Astral horde thing?" She said after pulling away from Solis.

  Solis nodded just as Vanis's head snapped up towards her, this time with an expression of betrayal.

  "You know, too?!"

  "Of course I do. Father lets me sit during his meetings. The issue of the horde was surely going to have reached my ears." She paused. "Don't be angry. I'm sure the reason you weren't told was so you could focus on your duels."

  "Not an excuse," Vanis muttered.

  The lady smiled with a resigned look, her eyes leaving the Verrille lord to land on where Damien and Keilan were sitting.

  Damien coughed, shifting his expression from that of extreme awe to one of polite indifference. He looked over at Keilan who was just a second late in washing away the love struck look on his face.

  "And who are these people?" She asked and then, surprisingly, slowly began making her way over.

  Solis answered before Vanis could, and his reply was just as Damien expected.

  "Oh, you must not have heard," he grinned savagely. "These are my brother's new sycophants, Gruffy," he gestured to Damien, and then waved towards Keilan. "And wimpy."

  Damien would have glared had he been actually been caught off guard. Instead, he just stood up just as Vanis said.

  "Don't mind my brother, Sar. He's just surly because he was defeated by one of them," the Verrille lord said and then stood up, moving over to where the lady had stopped in front of Damien and Keilan.

  "Oh," she said. "I heard about that. Which one of them defeated Solis?"

  "That would be Keilan, over there," Vanis gestured at Keilan with a smile. "An extremely talented warrior, if you'd ask me. Both of them are."

  "Oh? Surprising."

  "Yeah, you should," Vanis nodded. "Let me do the introductions. Damien, Keilan, this is Sareina Duveyar, of House Duveyar. She is the daughter of the Ascendant, Lord Vilsus Duveyar. They are one of the three founding houses of Lese."

  He turned to face the lady, Sareina.

  "Sar, these are Damien and Keilan Elason. We met in the Aveanii outpost where I was imprisoned, and they were the ones who rescued us. Had it not been for them, I don't know what would have happened to us."

  "Grandma would have come for you, that's what," Solis cut in grumpily.

  "Quiet, Sol. Or I'll throw you off this room and down into the field," Vanis said smoothly.

  "Still quibbling, I see? I thought you both would've done away with such petty squabbles by now." Sareina said admonishingly to both brothers, and then turned to Damien and Keilan. "I apologize that you have to deal with this everyday," she stretched her hands, to which Damien shook.

  "It's not problem. We're—" he glanced at Keilan. "—used to it."

  The lady nodded, smiling as she pulled back her hands to shake Keilan's. After that, she finally took a seat that somehow was placed in equal distance to all the other occupied chairs.

  "So, Vanis, what's this I hear about the lesser houses challenging you to a duel?"