*Waah*, *Waah*, *Waah*
The bursting cry of an infant could be heard blasting across an impossibly luxurious room as a regal blonde woman of ethereal beauty and outstanding proportions stood beside the crib, her immaculate face overcast with a gloomy shade of grief and sadness.
"My lady, the council has spoken. The prophecy has held!"
Standing opposite her, only a few steps away, was a tall, handsome man with long, wavy white hair, wearing a magnificent blue and white robe with intricate magical runes drawn on it.
Possessing magnificent golden slitted eyes and a hawk like gaze, he announced in a deep, imperious voice. "Adonis will be spared execution. However he will be stripped of his magic talent and be exiled. And your wedding with the Stolerias King is set a week from today."
"....." The cold words struck like brutal slashes to the slightly bulging lady, who visibly shivered, clutching the rails of the crib while desperately biting her lips to hold back her tears.
She had tried her hardest to fight her fate yet…
She lost.
*Drip*, *Drip*, *Drip*.
Warm dollops of painful tears thus began to rain on the small boy's fluffy cheeks as the lady craned over to have a look at him one last time.
And this 'warm rainfall' caused the infant to surprisingly stop crying, opening his bright green eyes to gaze back at a pair identical to his.
"Hehe…, Tee hee…, Hehe…"
As if he understood his mother was in pain, the innocent infant suddenly began to giggle, waving his tiny, soft arms around in a seeming effort to console the wounded matron and cheer her up.
It was an act that could be said to be the crystallization of the word everything that was good and pure under the sky.
But now, that very act seemed to cause endless pain to the woman.
"Wuhhhuu, wuhhuuu, I'm sorry my child, whuuuhhh, mother is useless…..wuhhuuu…mother is useless and could not protect you, wuhhhuu….my dear child."
Looking at that innocent two year old's happy and carefree face, completely oblivious of his fate, the woman felt her heart suddenly burst, unable to maintain herself.
Snuggling the child against her cheeks, she thus began to shower him with all the loving kisses in the world… knowing this was the last time she was going to see him.
She knew her boy was to die soon.
Exile was just a euphemism, a venial of comfort made up by her grandfather.
The man standing opposite of her did not flinch an eyelid even when watching such a tearful scene, but simply stood there like a picturesque statue.
Until….
"Woosh!"
Tired of waiting, the Grand Iudex summoned a large vortex of force that snatched the little child from his mother's bosom in one swift motion and into his lap, causing the lady to fall to her knees and break into even louder wails.
"Mother is useless…Adonis… she could not protect you. *Sob*, *sob*. Mother is useless…" She cried repeatedly while covering her tear stained face, not once asking for her son's forgiveness but only lamenting her powerlessness.
As for the Iudex, having obtained his prize, he turned to give the bawling lady a simple bow before wordlessly turning on his heel and excusing himself.
He walked, or more like almost teleported towards his destination, such was his power, covering vast distances with each step until he finally arrived at a huge open altar with a large circular stoned ring.
"The teleportation gate is almost ready, Your Lordship! We are just fixing the coordinates onto the center of the ocean. Apologies for the delay."
A short-haired woman with turquoise hair instantly bowed deeply upon seeing the man, sounding very sorry for the tardiness.
"It is okay. Finish it now," The Iudex only impassively chimed with a slight wave of his hand.
Then, as the lady quickly raced to command her team, the man turned to fix his eyes on the child on his arm, first casting a silverly illusory spell that seemed to suck something etheral out of the boy.
Then the man turned towards the inactive portal and patiently waited.
The place chosen for the boy's exile was called the Birthplace of Mana, situated at the center of the Magus Dimension.
Desolate and charged with the most chaotic swirls of mana in the whole universe, it was said to be a place so dangerous that its mere winds could tear a Rank 3 like wet tissue paper… what was there to even say about a defenseless infant?
His mother was indeed right to think her child was being executed.
Adonis would likely die the moment the portal opened and he was ejected out, not even having the chance to hit the ground.
And even if a miracle did occur and he did hit the ground, so what?
Who knew how high in the air the portal would open?
The boy would turn into a bloody pancake the moment he hit the hard ground.
Or if he hit the waters instead, he would drown and become fodder for fishes.
And even if the portal opened just at ground level… let us forget the question of how an infant can feed, clothe, and shelter himself.
The entire place was inhabited by crazy and bloodthirsty beasts of Tier 5 and above, many mad enough to even eat their own young.
So what would they do to this strange human?
Just from these considerations alone, the number of consecutive miracles it would take for the boy to survive and grow up in that environment was astronomical.
There had to be a miracle of a miracle of a miracle… of a miracle of a… miracle.
Feeling reassured by all this, the Iudex thus let out a small sigh of relief, glad that this shameful stain on his Profound Artifact Sanctuary would soon cease to exist.
Although covertly… despite all these, the shrewd man's machinations did not end there. He yet had pieces in place to seal the deal.
Buzzzzzz!!
He was just thinking all this when the portal suddenly roared to life, an aqueous swirling vortex soon appearing right above the altar, exactly as that short haired lady quickly came to report.
"Mmm… good."
The man thus went to work putting the finishing touches, magically summoning a white piece of cloth, and quickly wrapped the boy in it.
Inlaid with many complex magical runes, this was meant to protect him from the spatial storms during the traversal.
Then once the coordinates had been double-checked, the infant was raised into the air and with a gentle breezy nudge, pushed into the blue curtain, disappearing into it almost instantly.
Or so it seemed…..
Because just as the boy was about to be teleported, suddenly that short-haired woman nearby moved her left arm at a speed impossible for someone of her rank.
Bringing out a bronze, circular ball of some kind from her bracelet, she threw it at an impossible speed toward the boy, the projectile taking only an instant to arrive near its target, upon which it forthwith unveiled itself, colling around the boy to form an impossibly strong, impregnable protective cocoon.
And then the golden egg like structure started to glow.
It grew brighter and brighter and brighter until the light seemed blinding, emitting extremely powerful pulses of mana.
Until all of a sudden,
*Boom!*
There was a gigantic explosion, like a small nuclear bomb had gone off.
The blastwave tore through the sturdy stone of the teleportation portal like it was made of paper and then unleashed its vengeance on the surrounding earth and air, tearing them apart like shredded cheese and sending debris of stone, mud, trees, and even unrecognizable bits of human body parts, belonging to many of the weaker mages nearby, flying through the air in a chaotic maelstrom.
"Hahahahaha," And accompanying that dreadful bout of destruction was this laughter, sounding very pleased with himself.
Yes- it was a he.
The laughter sounded very masculine.
And the fact that this sound could be heard so clearly even through the huge bang and chaotic explosion that was still tearing everything apart easily went to show the extent of the power behind the originator of it.
"Hmmp!"
That ongoing turbulent storm however could not last long as breaking out of his short surprise, the Iudex quickly channeled his vast as the ocean mana outward, engulfing the entire region within it and isolating the storm.
Then once it was securely caged, the Iudex made a grasping motion with his hand, squeezing the ball of mana and letting it collapse on the explosion, letting one cancel the other.
"Hahaha,"
However even seeing his explosion get neutered, the short haired woman did not show any regret.
She simply kept laughing euphorically, the voice turning more and more masculine with every passing second while 'her' skin began to crack and peel off like a boiled egg, soon revealing a set of fair, bulging muscles.
A handsome man then at last stepped out, sporting long blonde hair and a golden halo around him.
"Stoneskin! Even a Tier I spell has infinite uses if you know how to use them! You should really study more, Grand Iudex." And his very first greeting was such, grinning with cunning and confidence.
"..." The silvery haired man slowly turned to face the intruder in silence, his face still masked with the same air of nonchalance.
Only in his golden eyes could one detect the hidden trace of anger.
"Young Master Estmound," The man at last spoke with a somber growl, narrowing his gaze, "Have you lost your mind? Or have you betrayed your family and decided to declare war on behalf of the Court of Amaunator?"
"Hahahaha… oh nothing so grand, Iudex… nothing so gland," The booming accusation had exactly nil effect on the handsome man, as he only let out a great grin, breezily chuckling,
"I am just here to deliver a gift to my nephew from his father."