May The Gods of War Bestow You

Leander and Chase sat quietly inside of the Headmaster's tent.

"So that would make you my?"

Leander chuckled.

"I only raised your father after the death his clan... As well as practically raised your mother as well."

"I see..."

The words of the previous conversation hung somberly, as Chase realized that this entire time Leander had been protecting some of the only family that he had left...

"What were they like?"

Leander smiled, his hair covering the powerful weight of Orion's eye.

"Your father had always been strong, stronger than me even... Although falling in love with your mother was much worst than any curse. For a human to create life with a god is not unheard of, but what is, is for the human to live in vitality in the following years."

Chase looked at the ground, realizing that his birth had truly killed his father.

"Incorrect..."

'Huh?'

Leander nodded.

"I can read thoughts!"

He chuckled, which made Chase quite uncomfortable.

"So you have always been able to do that?"

Leander nodded.

Chase felt a cold shiver run down his back, as his body twitched from the quite embarrassing realization.

"Relax, I have known more than you from the start anyway..."

Chase remembered something in that moment.

"When me, Poppy, and Neo entered the mimic's world, were you the one who reset time after we escaped?"

Leander looked around cautiously.

"I cannot discuss much of it, but I am the one who protected you three from the might of a being far stronger than me..."

Chase nodded, completely understanding the actions that Leander had taken.

Then the Headmaster took a sip of his tea, and continued on about the last Phoenix.

"Blaze was strong, as I've said. But that is simply an understatement. The curse of a goddess could not even kill him, but it had weakened him. In any normal fight the man with the strength of not just a paladin, but a Paragon, would have been able to defeat the entire Frostfang army on his own, as I have said, he was the strongest Phoenix to ever live..."

Chase felt something unexplainable, perhaps it was pride, or maybe it was regret for not getting to know his father as best as he could.

"Do not fret it, your father knew of what you had the potential to be, he had to distance himself from you... It pained him, but he needed you to be strong, and have the willpower to rely on yourself. But he cared deeply for you, almost as much as your mother perhaps."

Chase rubbed the spot on his shoulder where the marking of Sparky had once been. 

"Lilith...?"

Leander nodded, and he couldn't help but smile.

"Have you heard of the story of the new age of the afterlife?"

Chase shook his head.

"Makes sense, the story has died out over the decades, as new religions have formed."

He took another sip of his tea, and cleared his throat.

"Countless years ago, a young girl awoke on the ashen coast of the river of regret within The Underworld..."

Taking once again, another sip of tea, he continued.

"She wandered the depths of hell alone, not knowing her name nor her own origin. Until she found a palace within the underworld, it was mighty and looked like a fortress that no army of the living world could ever take. The girl ventured into the palace, where she found a mighty dragon sleeping on a cracked throne at the center of the castle..."

Chase raised an eyebrow, feeling quite impatient.

"She picked up a broken piece of the throne, and as she raised the jagged shard above the dragon's sleeping head: The beast awoke, and asked her, "Girl, do you have the will of the king?" And obviously, she told it no, as you need a very strong will to kill a dragon."

"And?"

"The dragon offered her to drink from the chalice of hell... Which she did of course, because what other purpose would she have, and of course the chalice alone nearly took her life, and sanity with it. But she somehow survived the trial of the chalice, and gained the power to manipulate hell, and the first thing she did was left the Underworld..."

"Why?"

Leander smirked.

"Because she felt hollow, with no reason to truly rule over the afterlife... That was until a young pale girl showed up at the Phoenix academy doorstep..."

Chase nervously cracked his knuckles as the story continued.

"She named herself in that very moment... Hm what was it... Ah yes... "Lilith of The House Of Tartarus..."

"Perhaps she did not know of the true weight of that word at the time, but she sure as hell earned such a mighty name, I have never once welcomed a student as strong as she was."

"What was her star output?"

Chase asked, feeling a sense of dread come with the question.

Leander's face went grim.

"Why it was... Around thirty star output, with boundless potential... She was a goddess of course, there were no real limits to how strong she could get, and that was only the day that she graduated from my academy..."

He paused.

"There is no telling of how strong the goddess of hell grew over the time that Blaze had raised you, or even before that to be honest."

'Boundless potential...'

The words hung in the air like fine whine, perhaps it was the first time that Chase had realized just how much worth his life held over the lands of Vallmora.

Chase stood up, and began toward the exit of the tent.

"Thank you Leander, for everything..."

"There is one last thing we must discuss, and I can feel it eating at your soul, the final piece of the puzzle if you will."

Chase raised an eyebrow.

"You have recently gained multiple new abilities after killing the spy, correct?"

Chase looked around the room nervously, and nodded.

"That is normal, what we teach in academy is that the only way to increase your output is by training vigorously, or by consuming a potion of output, which are nearly impossible to make or create..."

"However, there lies the main ingredient of strength, and you have felt it countless times before..."

Chase nodded.

"I gain new abilities whenever I consume the life force of a monster, or in recent cases... A human."

Leander nodded.

"When you take the life of a being with your own energy, you will find that your catalyst naturally consumes the vast amount of energy within the victim's catalyst..."

Chase shook his head.

"Why would you tell me this?"

Leander looked away, and stared deeply at one of the relics on his desk.

"My boy... There are reasons why people such as The Grand Paladin grow such strength over such a short amount of time..."

Chase looked at the ground.

"Killing is the easiest way of growing stronger..."

Leander nodded.

"And I am afraid you do not have the luxury of just training your way to the top..."

 Chase turned toward the exit of the tent again, and spoke his final words to his practical grandfather...

"I am no killer, and I do not wish to be one... However, I am afraid that I will eventually have to actively take multiple lives, but only those filled with pure evil..."

Leander nodded.

"I wish that The Gods of War grant you great fortune in the coming battles, and I also hope that you do not become anything remotely close to me..."

Chase felt a sting, and terrible dread fall upon his being at their goodbye, as they would both be fighting in different sections of the armies.

"Thank you..."

He muttered one last time, as he left for his own war preparations.