As the fires continue to burn down the sky Apollo decided to watch more. He sat there, legs dangling off the edge of the branch like a child. The sky above him shimmered so bright with hues of violet flame and golden embers, the air vibrating with residual magic, but even so Apollo choose to enjo it.

Another explosion bloomed shaped like a star. And made him laughed for a second.

"Maybe I should burn more things," he said as he felt amused at the of fires he just saw, smirking to himself he even added. "For a moment there I found the scenery extremely beautiful"

Then he vanished, leaving behind a pile of ashes and scorched ground.

Soon morning came and unlike any other new year, there wasnt any kind of celebration. The noises you can hear are not cause by parties by a war instead.

The sun was slowly rising up and Apollo's end of shift has come to an end. He and his classmates wre back into thier quarters ready to sleep but before then Apollo decides to tell them what he discovers.

"So your telling me, all the monsters killed came from the same entity?"

McKenzie said feeling a bit skeptical.

"So what happens to it?" Matilda asked in return while everyone was busy eating.

"I wasnt able to kill it since sir Gavin and some mages from the tower came, but I made sure that it wont cause anymore. I took its powerful source after all"

"Wait so then ou mean there are fifty more of such craeture, and you already dealt with them right?"

It was Niko who ask this time which Apollo immediately answer.

"I killed some while the rest are left for the empire to discover though I made sure they are weakned not to cause too much trouble"

"Wait what do you plan to do with that bitch, or whatever she was?"

"O, her? actually I already have a plan, what do yout think Arabella wanna listen?"

"Wait I wanna hear it too!"

"Same hear!"

"My ears are willing to listen"

The entire sleeping quarters were laced by thier chatter and Apollo didn't hold back and giving whatever they try to question.

.

.

.

Meanwhile in the place far from the Tower was a kingdom near the center of the continent. It held greate defense because of its natural topography as well the magic that is embed on its bordes. The Kingdom of Aileen stood still despite the hardsh blood season.

And pass the cold and harsh weather is a palace protected by a powerful artifact, that separates the entire area from the outside. And so the climate there was the exact opposite of the cold storm that everyone is currently facing. In one of the palaces there lies a beautiful garden one that even the most powerful figures of the empire could have. And the person who own such place was non other than the fiance of the eldest son of the Lionheart duchy, her name is Emilia Catarina Von Aileas, the first born from the three royal children, and the beloved princess of the kingdom of Aileen.

The new year approach this kingdom with great success and the princess spent her day relaxing.

The scent of lilacs still lingered in the chamber when the doors of the garden house burst open.

Emilia didn't flinch knowing who it was. She was mid-sip of her velvet wine when her servant Moe entered, pale and trembling, whispered something into her ear. She lowered the wine glass slowly, her smile unpredictable as her personality.

"…Say that again." she coldly commanded making her servant cower in fear, despite that it still obeyed.

"A warehouse, Your Grace. The one in East Brevane. It… it exploded last night."

She stared at him, silent. The artificial fireplace at the garden house cracked, along the glass that builds it.

"Burned to the ground, even the underground compartments?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

"…Casualties?"

"None princess, strangely everyone. Guards. Smugglers. Researchers. Even the alchemist from the other kingdoms we hired, were absent when the fire started"

A long pause.

Then the fire in teh fireplace slowly flicker as if its dying

The chamber grow cold

And even the flowers felt afraid

Then her hand snapped forward, seizing the man by the throat. Wine spilled across her lap.

*Sigh*

"How useless, none of them were there to secure the materials"

There was another round of silence came

Followed by a pressure that slowly comsume the servant.

"I told you," she hissed, voice low and venomous, "To keep that site sealed. No visitors. No loose ends. No trails."

The man choked, clawing at her wrist. She squeezed once more for good measure, then tossed him aside like a soiled napkin.

"Find out who did it. Now."

---

Hours Later

Right after the chaos Apollo did by reporting the brood mother to the tower.

Reports flow in like blood through a cracked wound. Not only was the mysterious beasts fully investigated, the suspicious amount of beasts horde were connected then were immediately traced its source. And by following the places with abnormal amount og horde they wee able to secure more broodmother. This made Emilia nervous, if the remnants of her magical artifacts and worse, her illegal experiments had been recovered by Tower Mages. Then it would mean that thier kingdom is about t face damnation.

She paced inside her study, bare feet gliding over marbled floor, wine forgotten.

"Those Tower dogs sniffing around already…? Impossible. I was careful. I made sure everything will remain a hidden"

She begun thinking were everything went wrong, but flaw he did not see.

Could it be a spy?

Or perhaps the archduke as seen thier action

"Moe!"

"Yes princess!"

"Report about the movement of the tower what they are up to now?"

"Um.."

"What!"

"Your grace the truth is the last report was the one I put on your desk"

"Are you telling me dont hae anything on them right now!?"

"Yes your grace"

"Damn it!"

There was no answer from the people she had ties with and thus she had no idea what is going on.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The scouts she'd sent to investigate about the burn warehouse returned with odd details, according to a seer they had hired there was a powerful being there. One that is cloaked by its powerful presence, that is why its real appearance can't be seen properly. This enigma had been seen standing in front of the fire that consumed the warehouse. Watching. Unmoving. Almost admiring.

"…He watched it burn," she murmured. "Like a man lighting a candle."

Destroying the warehouse that was build to withstand even a celestial attack. Just one fire, it took one fire to destroy everything.

The moment her steward uttered a final detail, her world twisted.

"And, Your Grace… they say the explosion had a strange pattern. Mana ignited in an unnatural flow. Like fireworks."

Her fingers froze over her armrest.

"…Fireworks," she repeated.

A memory clawed its way to the surface.

It was a memory she longed to remove from her head, a vision of a boy. Beautiful, enchanting yet a very dangerous being.

It was Apollo

A six year old version of him, standing on the balcony of the palace garden, years ago. Fireworks exploding across the summer sky. His lips parting in a rare smile.

Despite the things oing on with him, that smile was so mesmerizing that even Emilia was left stunned. It felt unreal to see a scenary as beautiful as that smile.

"Pretty," she remembered he once said. "The destruction that makes people look up. A fire that burns but doesnt hurt, a beauty that is captivating but only last for a moment. What a very manipulatingly way"

The moment she recalls that made her blood ran cold.

"No. No… it couldn't be. He wouldn't, he couldn't have known."

'Could he?'

'Was it the reason that made the tower move because he was involved?'

He had been silent for years. Kept out of politics from the batte of succession. He kept himself on the tower, not leaving unless its about magic.

'But what abou the enigma? What it was needs to be discovered first, though if Apollo had done this and that cloaked figure working for him! Then the implications were beyond terrifying'

Emilia staggered to her feet, knocking over her wine. She snapped her fingers, summoning a dozen shadow couriers.

"Burn all correspondence related to Project Eros. Kill the handlers. Dismantle the outposts. I want everything gone within the hour."

'Nothing should be link to me!'

'I shouldn't be followed! Not by him!'

"Your Grace, that would dismantle half your trade-"

"I said burn it." Her voice cracked. "Burn it all, leave nothing behind"

There was something in her now, something new. Not fear.

Paranoia. The kind that eats your mind.

She never expected that the boy she saw gazing at the ight sky with innocence will turn into a thorn that ready to prick to death.

She felt nervous , to cooldown she wash herself and just before her reflection in the water changes, she stared at her own eyes and finally admitted it aloud.

"I underestimated him."

Her trembling lips curled into something bitter. Almost admiring.

"So the boy's finally grown teeth…"