Strings Of Domination

"Why are you guys looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" Miles felt puzzled by the way Amy and Nash stared at him and subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face. Though, strangely enough, he felt nor found anything weird on his face, it was just as smooth as ever.

"Huh? Smooth?" suddenly an abrupt realization hit Miles like a train and without saying anything ran before a small mirror on the side and looked into it.

"Good Lord... I... Who the hell is this?" Miles pointed at his reflection in the mirror, looking at Nash with widened eyes that were filled with deep confusion.

Nash, however, didn't say anything and instead walked beside Miles, looking into the mirror too to see his own reflection. And to his great surprise, the moment he saw his face which now looked at the very least three times more handsome than previously, he let out a shocked gasp.

'Is this the result of our Legacy? By cultivating not only will we get stronger but also more... handsome?' Nash wondered in his heart as he raised his hand and touched his cheeks, only to feel a smooth and soft layer of skin which upon a slightly harder push became rather firm!

Meanwhile, outside the building, in the shade of a tree, an individual wearing a black hooded robe stood still with a small orb in hand while murmuring words as quietly as a fly's buzz.

However, just a few seconds later as he began to chant his spell, the individual let out a painful groan and dropped the orb in his hand onto the ground while raising both his hands before his face that began to bleed!

"What happened?" as the man was trying to stop the blood from leaking out of his eyes, suddenly Serio emerged from the side his complexion currently as cold as ice. It was the complete opposite to the Serio who always smiled before others.

"M-My Lord..." the man quickly dropped to his knees, ignoring that it caused his eyes to bleed even more, and said, "I tried to peek inside as you have ordered, but... I failed and even sustained a minor injury."

"What?" a deep frown emerged on Serio's previously cold and indifferent face before he shifted his gaze to the building in the distance and narrowed his eyes.

"I see. So they really are serious about hiding their identity. But to think they are capable of forming such a powerful minor formation in less than a few minutes... Is this perhaps that another boy's doing?" Serio mumbled as he tried to see through the windows, but realized his try was only futile.

"My Lord, if I may." the man still kneeling at the side of raised his head to face Serio, and asked, "Should I go and report this to your father?"

Serio remained silent for a brief moment, but soon shook his head and said, "There is no reason. We agreed to let them join without inquiring about their origin and privacy so forming a defensive barrier around their home could be said is only natural. However..."

After Serio said those words, he fell into silence before shifting his gaze at the man on his side and saying, "Make sure to keep your eyes on them. Although they seem to possess no threat to us nor do they seem to wish to harm our Family, it is better to be safe than sorry."

"As you wish, my Lord." the man lowered his head before standing up and vanishing from his spot.

Serio didn't say anything and after giving one final glance at the house where Nash and the others were residing he turned around and walked away with steps that were so quiet that not even in complete silence would be one able to hear them!

"So? What will we do now?" after calming down from his shock and getting used to his new looks, Miles asked while watching as Amy took down her mask, revealing her beautiful face.

"I will go and break into the next Rank," Amy said and after giving a glance at Nash she walked away, vanishing in the corner which led the way to the second floor.

"And you?" Miles asked as he shifted his gaze at Nash.

"I will try to unseal my next Primordial Vein. Do you think you can use create a seal that prevents power outbursts? You know, to prevent this building from accidentally collapsing once we break through our bottleneck."

"Yeah, I can do that. Though, I will need more time to complete the formation." Miles replied calmly as he raised his hand and slowly began to draw several symbols into the air.

"That is not a problem. I can wait." Nash nodded and sat down in the middle of the living room in a lotus position and closed his eyes.

'Let's see... Which one should I go with this time?' Nash pondered, but instead of choosing blindly, he decided to see which seal what kind of traits possessed.

'I still have the white, green, blue, and black symbols, each located inside different parts of my body.' Nash thought and controlled his essence against the green symbol which was found in his left leg, around the middle bottom of his foot.

And exactly as he did, a feeling akin to his whole body turning petrified swept through his whole body while even his thoughts froze for a split second!

'W-Woah! Th-That was scary!' cold sweat soaked Nash's body when he stopped pushing his essence against the green seal. But once he finally calmed down and took a deep breath he proceeded to control his essence, but this time not against the green seal but against the blue one located in his left arm, at the tip of his middle finger.

'C-C-Cold...' the teeth of Nash began to chatter as his whole being felt as if he was thrown into a frozen lake, freezing his bone, flesh, and blood almost solid!

'Heat, petrification, and now freezing. Then the next to will be...' as Nash thought about something he quickly controlled his essence to the remaining two symbols.

And soon enough, the moment his essence came into contact with the white symbol in his right leg, he immediately felt as if a storm was going on a rampage inside his body while when he touched the black symbol in his head a feeling as if he was falling into an eternal and bottomless abyss without any chance of escaping took over his mind!

'Fire, earth, water, wind, and... darkness guess?' Nash pondered with his eyes closed as he realized each of his Primordial Vein was a form of an element.

'Wait... So this means I will be able to control five different elements as if it was natural?' this realization hit him like a train and Nash couldn't help but feel as an exciting shimmer ran through his body.

So far, he only had his Crimson Essence which allowed him to control fire to a limited degree, thus this meant the remaining four Primordial Veins will grant him similar abilities too!

Furthermore, while the Crimson Essence enhanced and boosted his physical strength, it was very likely that the other four will improve his other traits such as defense, speed, stamina!

'Though, there is one little problem...'

Indeed, as Nash was thinking about this and was getting slightly excited at the thought of him controlling five different elements, he happened to find a small problem. And it was which of his Primordial Vein he should unseal next as in contrast to the red symbols, the other four symbols gave him greater torture when he wished to unseal them!

Especially the black symbol, which seemingly contained the element of darkness and made him feel as if he was imprisoned in eternal darkness where his whole being slowly but surely was engulfed and consumed by an abyss from where he could not escape no matter what!

'Also, there is the green symbol which makes both my mind and body feel as if they turned solid, almost as if I have been suddenly turned into a rock without the ability to move or think any longer!' Nash thought bitterly in his heart before he added, 'So for now, this only leaves me with the blue and white symbol, element of water and wind!'

'Hmm....' a subtle frown appeared on Nash's face as he thought about which one of the two he should unseal, also considering what kind of benefit he would get from each.

'Unsealing the white symbols should grant me the power to increase my overall speed while the blue one should allow me to move and attack more nimbly and fluidly, or so I guess.'

Nash thought for several minutes before he sighed and controlled his essence into his right leg where he slowly pushed his essence against the white symbol which was located just below his knee.