Chapter 113: The Ashcrofts.
"Spar with me."
Alaric instructed all of a sudden and Lucian blinked in surprise.
Then the next second—
His eyes brightened.
"Oh?"
Alaric, not liking those bright eyes, quickly added rules.
"A controlled spar.
No killing techniques, no damage that cannot be repaired and we stop the moment the other gives in or the advantage is clear."
Lucian, who was wiping his sweat, threw the towel aside.
"You say the most romantic things."
He smiled, Alaric, at this point, was already used to his comments, so he ignored him.
"Are you accepting?"
He asked and Lucian’s grin widened.
"Obviously."
Alaric nodded back as he then started removing the rings on his hand.
"What are you doing?"
Lucian raised a brow.
"Removing the artifacts I usually have on."
"Why?"
Lucian’s smile faded into something more curious.
"Because you don’t have any."
Alaric said as he removed a second ring and placed it on the table.
"This would not be fair."
Lucian stared at him for a moment, then he laughed.
"And you do not have demon blood.
Want me to take it out as well?
Oh, my bad. I cannot."
Lucian spoke as he began walking towards Alaric. The Commander looked up and the amusement in Lucian’s smile faded away.
"Nothing in this world is fair, Commander. I accepted that a long time ago."
He spoke directly.
"Use everything you have.
Fight me at your strongest."
He spoke as his violet eyes glowed dangerously.
Then suddenly, the amusement on his face returned and—
"Besides, it would look bad if our commander lost to a new recruit in one punch, now wouldn’t it?"
Alaric’s mouth twitched, barely, but it happened. Lucian saw that and he looked absolutely delighted. That made Alaric’s face twitch even more.
He put the rings back on, then he removed his coat, under it, he was wearing a black, fitted shirt, which looked ordinary at first.
That was until Alaric placed two fingers against the side of his ribs and the next instant, a faint white light spread all over his torso.
"Pretty~"
Lucian chuckled.
Alaric just looked at him.
Lucian looked back and—
"Is that the White Marrow Aegis?"
He asked.
"How do you know that?"
Alaric frowned, his armour wasn’t exactly secret, in fact, it was quite well known in the Enclave, but...
Lucian was only a new recruit who didn’t even know a supernatural world existed just a few weeks ago, he had quite a bit to learn, about the world and about the Enclave before he learned about such things.
But Lucian—
"My teacher told me."
"Lady Vivienne...?"
Alaric raised an eyebrow.
"When I returned the first time, she said the two of us might get into a fight. She said she wanted me to not embarrass her, so she told me everything I needed to know about you."
"She... expects you to defeat me?"
Alaric blinked.
"Of course."
Lucian grinned and Alaric shook his head.
Lucian’s provocations were too childish. Alaric knew Vivienne, heck, the woman had trained him when he was a child, he was the only Ashcroft in his generation to survive her training for six whole months!
She solidified his foundation, she knew exactly how strong he was.
There was no way she was expecting Lucian to defeat him, this was merely Lucian trying to get under his nose but this time...
This time, that only made Alaric smile.
"Then try not to embarrass her, or it won’t end well for you."
"You know her well."
Lucian’s grin widened.
"I do."
Alaric nodded as he took his battle stance, well, it wasn’t exactly a battle stance, he only moved one foot slightly forward, his hands remained relaxed, and his shoulders were loose, clearly, he wasn’t taking Lucian very seriously.
Lucian was different, he took his serious battle stance and stared at Alaric one last time.
Vivienne told him that humans fought differently.
Monsters fought with what they were born with.
Humans fought with what they built.
Alaric Ashcroft was the perfect example of that.
The Ashcroft Family had been part of the Enclave for nearly fifteen hundred years. Their history was older than many modern nations, and in those fifteen hundred years, they did not only act like proud, arrogant nobles with nothing but their name to them.
They evolved.
The Ashcrofts began as hunters, then spent centuries turning themselves into living weapons. Selective marriages, relic-mineral medicine, bone reinforcement, brutal childhood training, and a process they called Tempering.
All of it existed for one purpose only.
To create the perfect hunter body.
The result was the White Marrow Constitution.
A body with unusually light, dense and resilient bones.
It allowed them to move faster, react quicker, and place less strain on their bodies while maintaining exceptional durability.
This not only gave them superior physical strength, it also gave them explosive speed, agility, exceptional stamina, greater resistance to physical stress and enhanced recovery.
And Alaric?
He stood at the top of the current Ashcroft generation.
As the Ashcroft Heir, the resources spent on him were absurd. The medicines, the trainers, the artifacts, the old techniques, the private instructors, the combat records passed down through the family, all of it was poured into him since childhood.
Most Ashcroft children completed their Tempering around the age of twenty-four.
Alaric completed his at fifteen.
Since then, he had only been sharpening himself.
So yes, Alaric was arrogant.
But it was not empty arrogance.
He had earned every inch of it.
And despite all of that, Alaric was still a human.
That, however, only made him much more dangerous, because he was still a human, he knew he had limits, so just like other humans, he covered those limits through various artifacts.
The White Marrow Aegis that Alaric was wearing was one such artifact.
It tripled Alaric’s physical output for short bursts.
It protected vital organs from lethal impacts.
It absorbed and spread blunt-force damage across the whole frame.
It reinforced joints so his limbs did not break under enhanced movement.
It helped clot wounds and accelerate recovery.
It grounded hostile energy so demonic force did not enter his body easily.
It could force his body to keep moving even after injury.
And this wasn’t even the only Artifact Alaric wore, according to Vivienne, he had five more.
Two rings, one that anchored his footing, letting him take heavy hits without being thrown back, the other redirected impact. A bracelet that could bind movement for a short moment, a locket that protected his vital organs in emergency situations, cuffs that corrected his movements and supported his reflexes and a belt that stored emergency healing potions.
That was how humans fought.
They studied the enemy, prepared for them and built tools that could be used against them.
And Alaric Ashcroft...
He was hailed as one of the very best of these humans.
A human who had spent his entire life preparing to stand in front of things stronger than him and kill them anyway.
"Well then, since you know I can’t lose.
Please forgive me for being rude."
Lucian grinned as he said those words.
Then—
He attacked.
"I am going to touch you now~"
