Lucky Prodigy

24: A New Era

^^ The Guru ^^

— James —

Hallox ripped out the Heart of the Construct unceremoniously, as Calais tried to say his last words, allowing the Sage's Tree to eat the corpse, and cracked his neck slowly as the tension settled slowly.

<Update!
Hallox Mars' Level Increased!
Aura of the Silver Titan has Increased! (15th Form)
Hallox Mars's Class (9): Maxed!
Hallox Mars Evolves (9) into: War-Born (Legendary, 13th), right now!>

As Hallox's second evolution of the past fifteen minutes ripped through him, Janus took their opportunity to attack, seeing an opening and attempting to kill him while he was weakened.

Sadly for Janus, my Disciples weren't that easy to kill; Hallox caught the blade without looking, moving faster than Janus could see. It bit deeply into the bones of his hand, slashing through the meat and his armored skin, but not even the 100x Attack was enough to counter his aura-clad hand that was still full of Chi after that Chi-Palm Strike.

He slowly turned and glared up at the other King, who instantly released the blade and teleported away, a coward to the end.

Hallox snorted derisively as the Tree took the sword, and sat up, looking at me. "Well, Master... I think I can call that a success, yes?" His Voice was smooth and silky now, charismatic and melodic, even, which was odd.

A Bronze-Armored being stepped out of a glowing portal in the air, just like the Angels had when they came through, standing in front of Hallox and examining him curiously, but not making himself known to the young man. His gaze, golden and flaming, found mine, and a voice entered my mind. 'This requires that you do not interfere, Old One.'

'I will not, unless you give me reason to.' I shrugged.

Hallox cracked his back slowly, unaware of the being, and frowned as he found the dragon's wings that had sprouted on his back, then the sight of his tusks on the ground, where they'd fallen out. "Wait... do I have- what happened to my voice? And my Tusks?!?!?" He began to panic, but the Being spoke with a deep, sonorous voice.

"It's been a few millennia since I found a new War-Born... one of your ancestors, in fact. I allowed her to name her children 'Mars', in honor of her achievement." He hummed.

Hallox hummed, staring at the being in shock for a moment, before coming to a conclusion and saluting him. "Hallox Mars of the Treaty-Lake Orcs Greets... Mars?"

The being laughed heartily, and returned the salute with a grin. "Yes, I am Mars, and you are rightly minded. Kneeling is between Kings and Subjects... I am surprised that in only two suns, you've managed to Peak like this. Most impressive... and killing all those Demon Generals, all one after another, then the Demon King himself, using his subordinate's weapons?!? MARVELOUS!!!" He laughed and set his weapons aside, sitting on the table as I walked up the steps and sat at the top.

"Thank you... now why do I have wings and no tusks?" Hallox asked suspiciously.

"Hmm? Ah, well, that's simple. You're now War-Born. That means you've become my Child, in a sort of Adoptive Fashion. The wings are mostly aesthetic, to match your place as an evolved Machai, a War-Spirit. And your tusks, they were a sort of focus for your Ur and later your Aura, which you no longer need. Either way, you're about to evolve, so I've got a few questions as to your wishes, going forward." He waved a hand dismissively, and the tusks turned to dust, reappearing on a leather string around Hallox's neck, molded from solid bronze.