The last hour and a half had melted away like it was nothing.
What started as polite conversation over drinks turned into laughter, shared stories, and an easy warmth Ikurus hadn't expected but somehow had always known. They talked about music drifting in from the ballroom, about the fair outside the castle walls, about silly childhood memories and half-finished dreams.
Every now and then their hands brushed, and every time it happened that same quiet spark flickered between them, unspoken but undeniable.
Eventually, Ikurus shifted awkwardly, ears twitching.
"Uh, sorry Sol-" he caught himself quickly, clearing his throat, "Vox. I gotta go to the bathroom." He rubbed the back of his neck, then smiled. "Wanna have a dance when I get back?"
Voxis' eyes widened just a little, scales along her cheeks shimmering as heat crept up her face.
"I'd like that," she said softly, then nodded. "I'll wait out here for you. Bring me back a cream cheese Kolugi, please!"
Ikurus froze mid-step and looked back at her, surprised.
"…You like Kolugi?"
"Yup," she said proudly. "They're my favourite."
Ikurus's smile grew impossibly wide. "Say less."
He turned and skipped off toward the hall, tail swaying behind him with an unashamed wag, boots barely touching the ground as he disappeared into the lights and music.
Voxis watched him go, eyes lingering on the movement of his tail, the way it flicked and swayed like it had a mind of its own.
"…Fluffy," she murmured to herself, a small, fond smile tugging at her lips as the distant music swelled.
The stone halls near the bathroom were quieter, the music fading into a dull thrum as Ikurus slipped into the bathroom chamber.
Warm orblight reflected off marble basins and tiled floors. He finished up quickly, already thinking about Voxis and those cream cheese Kolugi.
Then his ears twitched.
That scent.
Annoying. Sharp. Familiar.
He sighed slowly. "You've gotta be kidding me…"
Footsteps scraped behind him.
Marcus stood near the doorway with Marcel, Jon, and Cameron's remaining two goons blocking the exit. Their shadows stretched long across the tiles.
"Well look who it is," Marcus sneered. "The fake noble mutt."
Ikurus turned, golden eyes flat with boredom. "I really don't have time for this. My date's waiting."
Jon laughed. "Date? You mean the demon princess? You actually think someone like you belongs near her?"
Ikurus stepped forward, calm but firm. "Move."
Marcel shoved his chest. "Or what? Gonna whip us with your tail again?"
Ikurus didn't even react. "No actually, but it may be worse this time, now...Last warning."
Marcus' face twisted when he realized Ikurus wasn't scared. He wasn't rising to it. He was leaving.
And that pissed him off.
His eyes flicked to a wooden cleaning bucket beside the wall.
A slow, ugly grin spread across his face.
Before Ikurus could turn fully away-
Splash.
Warm liquid drenched his shirt, hair, shoulders, dripping to the floor with a sharp stench that filled the room.
For a second, everything went silent.
Ikurus froze.
Water dripped from his bangs.
His tail stilled.
The boys started laughing.
"HAHA-look at him!"
A quiet voice cut through it.
"…fuck it."
The air itself seemed to compress.
BOOM.
A shockwave tore through the bathroom like a cannon blast.
Stone cracked.
Tiles exploded.
Marcus was launched backward like a rag doll, smashing straight through the thick stone wall and vanishing in a cloud of dust and debris.
The goons didn't even have time to scream. The pressure alone slammed them into pillars and sinks, knocking them unconscious instantly.
When the dust slowly settled, a massive hole gaped where the wall once stood.
Footsteps echoed.
Ikurus walked calmly out of the smoke, aura simmering low and dangerous, eyes glowing faint gold.
He glanced at the unconscious boys on the floor.
Then toward the broken wall where Marcus had flown.
"I tried," Ikurus said quietly. "I really did. Because you were my father's friend's son."
His voice hardened.
"But even you must understand… you just crossed a line."
He exhaled slowly.
"Not even I, for all my pettiness, would've done that to you."
With that, he stepped over the rubble, shaking dust from his shoulders.
Somewhere in the distance, the music still played.
And Voxis was still waiting.
Marcus skidded across the polished dance floor in a storm of dust and splintered stone, shoes screeching as he barely caught himself from crashing into a pillar. The music died instantly. Laughter, chatter, the clinking of glasses all vanished into stunned silence.
Smoke rolled through the ballroom.
And through it…
two bright golden eyes burned.
Ikurus stepped out of the haze slowly, calm, tail swaying behind him.
Marcus scrambled to his feet, panic and fury twisting his face. His hand dove into his coat and pulled free a massive crimson gem, glowing like a captured sunset, veins of molten light pulsing inside it.
"STAND BACK!" Marcus shouted, voice cracking. "Don't make me use this!"
The nobles gasped.
Soldiers stiffened.
Gerald's hand dropped to his sword.
Ikurus felt it instantly.
Power.
Raw. Violent. Ancient.
A war-grade relic.
The kind meant to level armies.
The air around the gem warped from heat alone.
But Ikurus didn't stop walking.
His eyes never left Marcus.
"Put it down," Ikurus said softly. "Before you hurt someone who doesn't deserve it."
Marcus's hands shook. "You think I'm scared of you?!"
The gem flared.
BOOOOM!
A massive pulse of fire exploded forward, roaring across the ballroom like a dragon's breath.
Ikurus tilted his head.
The blast screamed past his cheek, close enough to singe a lock of hair, and slammed into the far wall in a thunderous eruption of flame and stone.
Gasps erupted.
Marcus fired again.
And again.
Flaming waves tore across the marble floor, pillars cracking, heat rolling through the crowd.
But Ikurus was already moving.
He vanished.
Not teleporting.
Just too fast.
A shadow slipping between firestorms.
His feet barely touched the ground as he weaved, ducked and spun, blasts ripping past where he had been a heartbeat earlier.
To the nobles it looked like smoke dodging lightning.
To Marcus it was a nightmare.
"STOP MOVING!" he screamed, unleashing another scorching surge.
Ikurus slid beneath it, tail flicking, eyes glowing brighter as a dark smile curved his lips.
"You're slow," he said calmly.
Another blast.
Ikurus sidestepped.
Another.
He twisted past it.
Each attack missed by inches.
The crowd watched in stunned silence as a child danced through war-magic like it was nothing.
Marcus's breathing turned ragged.
Sweat poured down his face.
Fear finally crept in.
Ikurus stopped.
Right in front of him.
The fire blast Marcus launched at point-blank range split around Ikurus's body like water around a rock, heat screaming past harmlessly.
Ikurus leaned close, golden eyes glowing like twin suns.
"That relic's strong," he whispered.
A grin flashed, sharp and dangerous.
"But you're not."
The room held its breath.
Panic finally shattered the spell the fight had cast over the crowd as soldiers and mages tried to extinguish the flames.
"WAR RELIC!"
"GET OUT!"