CHAPTER 103: THE RETURN & THE FIFTEENTH YEAR

Deep within his soul sea, Caius stood atop the central obsidian island, his pale eyes glowing with absolute focus.

Around him, the domain was a storm of dark, deadly energy. The Black Flame Demon roared, charging forward with fists engulfed in swirling liquid fire, while the Arachne Princess darted through the shadows, weaving razor-thin silk threads to seal his escape routes.

Months ago, managing both bound entities would have exhausted him. Now, Caius kept pace effortlessly, parrying the demon’s crushing blows with Obsidian Lattice while using his Eye of the Loom to dissect and snap the princess’s incoming thread traps. He was rapidly gaining the upper hand.

"Brood," Caius commanded coldly. "Attack."

From the shadows of the island, six shadow-wrapped Arachne warriors, the princess’s personal brood, leaped into the fray. Moving in a synchronized ambush formation, they struck from his blind spots with blinding speed. Caius merely smiled, deploying a five-point Void-Tether Snap to vanish between their strikes, reappearing above them to weave a multi-layered Hex-Loom that locked four of the brood in place instantly.

Suddenly, a ripple passed through the outer boundary of his domain.

Caius froze mid-strike, sensing a familiar, ragged spatial mana signature entering the estate above.

Old Bones.

With a flick of his wrist, Caius recalled his mana. The soul sea dissolved, and he shifted seamlessly back into physical reality, materializing in the subterranean courtyard. Beside him, an Arachne warrior glided out from his shadow, a male spider-beast, standing just over five feet tall, its obsidian chitin glistening like polished armor.

Heavy, limping footsteps echoed down the stone archway. Old Bones emerged from the darkness, his cloak torn, a heavy traveling pack slung over his shoulder, and a faint smell of burnt ozone clinging to his clothes.

The old assassin stopped in his tracks, his sharp eyes instantly locking onto the spider-like creature standing at Caius's side.

The five-foot Arachne warrior had changed drastically since he last saw its kind. Its once-dull exoskeleton was now framed in sleek, liquid-black chitin armor, radiating an aura of lethal, quiet pressure as its multi-faceted eyes tracked Old Bones's movements.

Old Bones blinked, staring at the beast in complete disbelief. What in the three realms did this brat feed the Arachne?

"Brat," Old Bones called out, forcing his usual dry tone as he stepped closer. "Have you been training well? I hope you haven't grown stagnant while I was away. How are your combat arts coming along?"

Caius merely laughed, a quiet, confident sound that made the old assassin’s eyebrows twitch.

"Why don't we test them, Master Old Bones?" Caius replied smoothly, stepping into the center of the yard. "See for yourself if I've slacked off."

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Old Bones grunted, a smirk touching his lips. "Don't regret it when I break your ribs, kid."

In the span of a heartbeat, Old Bones vanished into a shadow-step.

Normally, an assassin closing the distance on a mage meant instant death. Mages were back-line artillery, fragile and helpless when ambushed up close. But the moment Old Bones reappeared behind Caius with a dagger aimed at his neck, he realized his mistake.

Caius didn't cast a barrier or try to run. He executed a flawless, knife-edge slip, a high-level assassin maneuver Old Bones had taught him, while simultaneously snapping a zero-distance Spatial Lock directly around Old Bones's feet.

Snap!

Old Bones felt his movement freeze instantly. Before he could detonate his mana to break the lock, Caius spun inside his guard, his palm coated in a miniature Obsidian Lattice that effortlessly redirected Old Bones's second blade, while five black threads hovered a fraction of an inch from the old assassin's heart.

The entire sequence took less than two seconds.

Old Bones stood completely trapped, his throat working as he stared at the fourteen-year-old. Caius had seamlessly blended high-tier spatial magic with lethal, close-quarters assassin techniques. He wasn't acting like a mage, he was fighting like an immortal war-mage trained by phantom killers.

And the worst part? Old Bones knew with absolute certainty that Caius was holding back. He hadn't even summoned his black flames or invoked his true bloodline energy.

"Enough, enough!" Old Bones barked, waving his hand in defeat as Caius snapped the threads away.

Old Bones collapsed onto the nearby stone bench with a heavy groan, clutching his aching, bruised side. "Dammit... my joints are burning. You're a monster, brat. A bloody monster."

He rested his elbows on his knees, panting slightly as a warm, weary smile crept across his scarred face. He reached into his traveling cloak and pulled out a small, velvet-lined wooden box, tossing it across the air.

Caius caught it effortlessly.

"This month is your birthday, right?" Old Bones asked, his voice softening slightly. "You're fifteen now."

"Tomorrow, actually," Caius said, looking down at the unadorned wooden box in his hands.

"Open it," Old Bones grunted, leaning back against the wall.

Caius unlatched the silver clasp and lifted the lid.

Resting on the velvet cushion was a pristine, crystal-clear sphere swirling with dense, crackling violet lightning. The raw, high-tier mana radiating from the sphere pulsed with incredible density, illuminating Caius’s face in soft violet light.

For the first time in months, a look of genuine, unfiltered joy and surprise washed over Caius’s face. He stared at the thrumming sphere in his palm, fascinated by its power, but turned to the old man with a questioning tilt of his head.

"What beast did this come from?" Caius asked, examining the crackling violet energy locked within the crystal shell.

Old Bones leaned back against the cold stone wall, a tired, triumphant grin on his face. "That, brat, is a Beast Essence Bead from an elder Sabre Lightning Tiger. An apex predator from the high mountain peaks above the Underdark, vicious, blindingly fast, and dripped in high-voltage lightning mana. It took me weeks of hunting down those oversized cats and digging through their skulls just to find an elder specimen with a fully formed bead."

Caius looked from the bead back to Old Bones, taking in the old assassin's torn cloak and scorched side. He held the thrumming sphere tighter, a rare warmth stirring in his chest. "Thank you, Master Old Bones."

"Don't get soft on me now," Old Bones grunted with a wave of his hand, though his eyes softened. "Consider that your fifteen-year mark present. And don't worry, I've got another gift prepared for you, but that one will have to wait until right before your sixteenth birthday, just before you step into the Trial of Fate."

Caius closed the box with a soft click, a quiet, deadly resolve settling in his pale eyes.

"I'll be ready for it," Caius said.

Old Bones chuckled, closing his eyes as he rested his head against the stone archway. "Happy early birthday, kid. Two years are counting down fast... let's make sure you survive to see sixteen."