The World is New and Red

Finn, expectedly, fell down on the floor. His body made an audible thump as it rag dolled down. Rachel proudly wiped that bead of sweat falling down by the side of her face, a beaming and relieved smile appeared on her face as she leaned back in her seat.

"Is Brother Finn going to be alright?"

"Hmm? Oh him, yeah, he'll be fine, don't worry about it. It's a game we like to play. Anyways, oh look we're about to enter the estate," Rachel's naked hand pointed at an extremely large cement gate that reached as high as the eye could see. Numerous armed guards were visibly looking around as many of them had grim and scarred faces.

These guards were standing by looking from atop the castle walls, most of them either looked at the Aria Family's insignia or completely ignored them. Other than being on their payroll, their loyalty wasn't completely with the family. They were all opportunists that were either trying to take advantage of the Aria family or spies that were working for other affiliations.

Nio's governance with his guards was quite questionable at best. He hired anyone who passed the test, their backgrounds would be ignored and their previous actions would be wiped out, Nio only cared about strength and power. With the great wealth and authority that the Aria family had, numerous skilled criminals and madmen joined in, as well as a few notable elites using this place as a makeshift training ground to make a name for themselves.

Gwen got up from her seat and picked up Finn and laid him beside her. It took her a lot of her strength, yet she still managed to do so. Rachel giggled at this scene as she seemed to scheme something in her mind.

Beady mean gazes stared back at the carriage yet once they saw the Aria symbol etched by the side, everyone made way and reined in their voices. The previously noisy and vigilant guards were now quiet, yet the atmosphere seemed to turn for the worse.

Rachel saw the disrespect in their eyes and smirked, "No salutes?" Her voice seemed to reverberate across the entire area from within the carriage, the previously quiet area was now rife with murmurs.

Gwen knew what was happening right now. According to the novel, the Aria family was so great in strength that despite their small land and size, their entire family's strength was so great that it could even rival great empires and kingdoms. What she was seeing right now was nothing more than the outer dregs of the family, complete nobodies, that have nothing worthy to show for it.

There, however, was a way for these nobodies to gain even more status within the Aria family, it was to show off their strength. By constantly fighting between themselves and ranking their strengths amongst each other, the cream of the crop has an extremely minute chance of joining the weakest troop. And what better way to show off their strength than to challenge one of the Aria family's children?

Rachel scoffed and stepped out of the carriage, her previously snarky attitude was now replaced with bone-chilling rage. She was already in a bad mood having to come out and rescue their youngest, now there were even more annoyances preventing her from enjoying her well-deserved rest.

"On the count of three, if no one comes up and does something, I'll erase everyone here."

Countless audible gasps could be heard from the distance, up above the castle walls. Despite there being a 15-year-old girl standing there, everyone could feel the threat of death loom ever so closer. Muffled screams of blame could be heard from above.

"3…" Rachel folded her arms and glared at everyone at the castle walls, the bone-chilling aura she gave off that came from her notoriety was now manifesting itself into reality as the puddles of water around her started to freeze solid.

People always tend to believe that they were strong when they have never met failure. The pride and arrogance that get cultivated alongside their talent could never be disregarded. As people grow and develop, they will soon start to test their limits.

"2…" Rachel's mood turned even more sour, she expected there to be someone who would've showed up already. Her surroundings were already starting to condense into a white thin sheet with a chill, the aspects of her surroundings started to mimic winter.

Great geniuses have always separated themselves from everyone else, being completely misunderstood by the masses. Their talents were both a blessing and a curse so they all ventured off to find those that they would be able to talk to as their equal.

One of these people was Maun, a noble from a neighboring kingdom. He was famed as the strongest rising swordsman of their kingdom, if given enough time, he would be able to have a chance to be one of the Seven Swords. Countless people of his kingdom had praised him for being a genius that could even rival the Aria family's children.

With this comparison in mind, Maun, an 18-year-old young man, came to the Aria family to challenge one of their children. Hoping to face them to see if the rumors truly did them justice. Even since he came here, he had only seen the hems of their cloaks as they never showed anything in his eyes.

"I'm here to challenge you, Rachel Aria," Maun jumped from the sky-high castle walls and landed on the ground, creating spider web-like cracks on the ground, reaching up to a certain point in front of Rachel. Oddly enough, these cracks continued on for a while in every other direction other than the one in front of Rachel. An arc in front of Rachel appeared where these cracks couldn't pierce through.

"Tch, just you?" Rachel raged, she could feel her blood boiling as the mana stored within her started to condense greatly. The previously chilly air suddenly turned burning hot, scorching everything around her, igniting purple flames to engulf everything in front of her.

Gwen was looking out from the safety of the carriage, fortunately, this carriage had his father's protective spell so there was no possible way for her to ever get hurt. She gazed intensely at the purple flames that Rachel was conjuring, "After I figure out why I can't use mana, I'll be able to do that too! In 30 years, world domination…"

Even now, Maun still felt that Rachel, one of the Aria family's children, was still overestimated in the rumors. Maun had seen other guards that could do the same thing that Rachel could do right now. He took his stance and lowered his body, trying to compress energy within himself to burst out in quick succession.

Rachel tilted her head and pointed at the other people atop the castle walls, "One's not enough. Or do you all want to turn to dust?"

Maun ignored Rachel's underestimation of him and built up everything he had within himself, he needed to prove his own talent. He was using his family's technique, Blade Flow. By seeing the multiple paths his blade can move, he would be able to find the one that would hit his enemy.

As Maun saw all the paths that his sword can take, he settled on one that wouldn't be too taxing on himself, a probing move. He dashed forward, both his hands on his greatsword as he focused all the mana he had on his limbs. He reached his top speed in an instant, disappearing from the spectator's eyes.

Rachel didn't bother looking at Maun and gnashed her teeth, "Mother better not scold me after this… not respecting the family deserves death."

Maun directly appeared right behind Rachel and slashed away, the expected injury didn't appear on Rachel as a translucent barrier appeared right behind her, deflecting his attack away. A massive shockwave appeared on where he struck, tearing away trees and dirt away from the ground, creating a small ravine as it passed through the forest.

Rachel looked back at Gwen with a meaningful gaze, "Gwendolyn, listen, if anyone ever disrespects the family, I mean, anyone. You do this," Rachel opened her palm in front of her and immediately clenched it tightly.

What Maun didn't realize was that Rachel wasn't even putting him in her eyes. She was too busy showing what happens when her family's name does not get the respect it deserves.

The previously sky-high walls of the Aria estate disappeared, as well as the countless lives there were previously guarding it. All that was left was a handprint, flattening everything down.