The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

Meanwhile, Juliette took matters into her own hands and struck up a conversation with the young guard. "Uhm, hi, hello. Nice to meet you, I'm Juliette, and you?"

She gave him a gentle smile, one that almost took his breathe away, and stretched out her hand to him. He froze and swallowed his saliva, not knowing what to do, nor say.

'A, a goddess?' He thought, and clumsily held her hand for a proper greeting. "A-Audrey, nice to meet, you." He promptly greeted, forcing each word out. 'Sooooofftt!!!' He thought.

'Well... this seems easy enough.' Juliette thought in joy, making her smile even more dazzling. And by then, the guard's defenses all melted down.

There was no resistance, and Juliette made him make new identity cards for them, while they discarded the old ones. Even Fiona obtained one as a "family friend".

~~~

The Adam's Territory

Adonis' Mansion

With the peaceful morning of the day, along the amazing songs from nature, a young man stood within the training grounds... swinging his wooden sword relentlessly.

"...Ha..!! Ha..!! Ha..!!.." He swung his sword amidst heavy breathes and a blurry vision. He felt dead, yet he still swung nonetheless.

He had been doing this for over an hour now. And the motion of swinging was mechanical to him at this point.

Yet he still did it. Each and every day, for the past two months, he did this self training to perfect his swordsmanship to new heights.

"Ha..!!"

Everyday, after experiencing two hours of being abused and beat up by Sixth, he would rest for a while, and do this practice by himself.

"Ha..!!"

At first, it was quite hard, and took only a minute or two before he fell back down and collapsed. Only to wake up within his room.

But the more the days went by, the longer his self training arc lasted. From a minute to now almost two hours.

"Ha..!!"

And his hard work and effort was seen by his maids, butlers and other servants. For two months, they saw him train from 6am everyday.

And seeing him last longer each day, made them root for him, and praise him. Especially so, when his servants were normally poor people who had no jobs and were given a chance by his grace.

Their feelings towards him were immensely positive. And they felt happy at his progress.

"Ha..!!"

And today, was the day he would break through the two hour limit, and reach newer heights of his self attainment process.

Almost everyone was secretly watching while working, their breathes confined in anticipation. They knew that what he was doing was too much for his body, yet he continued.

Regrettably, they were unaware that this had nothing to do with his weak body, but the gruesome mounding he believed only veteran warriors could do.

Yet even after two hours of all of that, today, young Adison wanted to do another two hours of his own self training, where he mixed up repeated swings of all basic sword motions.

"Ha..!!"

It was like imprinting every basic sword form and motion to his body and mind. And the longer he did this, the more he felt like he was developing an instinctive response.

It was quite surreal, but true. He was able to block more attacks from Sixth through instincts alone... sometimes obtaining a hint of praise.

It showed his progress, and made him want to do even more practice and self reflection.

'Not!! Only!! That..!!'

This training also built up core strength within him, and also discipline. He was capable of reigning in himself more, the more he reigned over his sword.

It felt like whatever he does unto the sword, was whatever it would also do, unto him. A quote from Sixth that made him treat his sword as his only heart.

"H–..HA!!"

He swung his sword down, and to his surprise, felt light and airy, like a feather floating in the air.

And saw his body falling after the sword. The floor getting closer and closer to his face. '...huh? Am I losing consciousness again..? Did I succeed?'

He thought, and before he could register that thought correctly, he was engulfed by darkness. Cold and dreary endless darkness.

'Ah... Seems I've gone down yet again...' Those thoughts closed the training session... And the next time he opened his eyes, he found himself back at his room.

'Again... I'm within my room... again.' He thought, letting his eyes adjust to the light of the room. 'And how long have I been out today?'

He sat up at those thoughts, and like almost everyday, saw Sixth standing near his window.

"..."

The man was watching the garden below, while the sunlight illuminated his visage. '...How handsome. Argh, what am I thinking? I should probably greet him.'

"Uhm, greetings senior." He said, since he was told multiple times that he was not a student. 'Apparently, I can't call him teacher or master either.' He thought bitterly.

"Hm, you are up." Sixth said, and turned towards his direction. "Get ready. Today we are expecting a special guest over."

He then left the room just like that. 'Special guest? Who could be consider a special guest? Perhaps a higher ranked member?' Adonis thought as he stood up.

'Tsh..!!' And his face contorted slightly in pain. 'Ah, I can still feel the pain on my lower ribs... Maybe I overdid it?' He thought, calling in a maid to help him prepare himself.

After ten minutes, he was done and was led towards his own study by Ninth. 'I wonder which member I'll be meeting now. Could it be the leader?' And his will continously wavered.

Ninth then arrived before the study and gently knocked on it. And after waiting for a while, a reply came after. "Enter."

'Enter..? I'm being told to enter within my own study. How ironic.' He thought with a bitter smile, watching Ninth open the door, leading him inside.

"..."

Once in, Adonis saw Sixth leaning close to the bookshelf as usual. But what took his focus, was the back of a man who had a head full of silver and platinum blonde hair.

'Platinum blonde plus silver hair? Thats strange. Is he a mixed breed from the Greenland Stronghold and our Shade Stronghold?' He thought in curiosity.

Each Stronghold was derived from different races that used to reside on earth. And under the evolution and mutation, they all differed one way or another.

And the best, most simplistic way to differentiate them, was through hair colors. The Shade being platinum blonde hair, and the forementioned Greenland having silver hair.

'Hm..? He didn't sit at my position? At least he's respecting me... I'm thankful. Really.' He further thought, sitting down at his chair, facing the said target.

"..."

And when he looked up at the man, he froze, and left his mouth hanging agar. '...What's with this level of beauty..? Its like, I'm looking at a painting.'

Adonis couldn't help his thoughts, and stared a bit too long. The man also stared back at him, his blue eyes, that each seemed to be of varying level of blue, being stern.

"Once you're done staring, let me know so we can start business." He said, his voice seemingly carrying the essence of masculinity within.

"Huh..? Eh..? S–Sorry!! Please forgive me!!" Adonis got back his senses and hurriedly bowed his head in shame. 'How could I stare at a men like that for so long..?! It's unbefitting of me!!'

"Don't worry. Just collect yourself before we start." The man said, his words subconsciously calming down Adonis without him knowing.

"Th–Thank you... whoo~... I am calm now. Pardon my rudeness." He said after a moment of collecting himself.

"Alright. Then shall we start?" The man said, fixing his posture. Adonis nodded, and the man continued, "For starters, my name is Damien Gray, son of Esther Gray, and pride of David Gray."

"..."

Adonis froze once more, this time, straight to the bone. 'Wh–What..? D–Damien? The next in line at leading the entire Gray House?! My gawd!!'

"It's alright, take your time. We have all day."

"Th–Thank you sir." Adonis felt his nerves loosen up at those words, but he still failed to calm down even then.

"..."

The process took a while longer, and Adonis was almost calm. But just then, he heard a sweet, albeit nervous voice besides the man.

"Uhm, just in case you'll be shocked again... my name is Fiona Vermillion, successor of the Romanian Stronghold west of this one. Pleasure to meet you."

Adonis paused and turned to her direction, finding a red-haired beautiful girl younger than him, slightly nodding at him as greeting.

She was beautiful, one of the rarest he has ever seen. Yet even then, such a beautiful girl was overshadowed by the beauty of another... A man to boot.

'I don't know how to feel about this, but... couldn't you guys surprise me all at once?' He sighed to himself, and took a few seconds to settle himself.

"Pleasure is mine, miss Vermillion. And, Pleasure meeting you too, sir Damien." He said, nodding at both of them as greeting.

"So is it mine, young lord." Damien said, and Fiona did not say anything else, either than a nod of acknowledgement.

'Young lord..? I'm flattered.' Adonis thought, trying his best not to let the term get to him. After all, he still believed that he was standing before the biggest fish within the Gray House.