The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

”Excuse me, but...” Ravian met their gazes and spoke.

”Are you planning to paint a portrait of me or something?” he asked, watching all of them keep their eyes fixed on him at once.

The man with short black hair frowned and nearly opened his mouth — but Karius got there first.

”He’s right. Why are you all looking at my student like that?” Karius said, and the coldness in his voice was sharp enough that his words nearly froze the hearts of everyone in the room.

The man sitting to Karius’s left felt his body tense the moment he sensed Karius’s aura pressing down on all of them — and being the closest, he caught the heaviest share of it.

But there was someone else in the room who was just as surprised to find that aura pressing down on her along with the rest of them.

”Father?” Isabelle called out, her eyes wide.

”This is my student, Isabelle — not some random soldier from camp for you to play those games with in front of me and expect me to just sit here watching. And he is not one of the seeds or spies of the Fourteen Taboos,” Karius said, looking at each of them in turn, one by one.

Isabelle lowered her head quietly when she heard her father’s words.

But it seemed not everyone in the room was satisfied with that.

”Sir Karius, I understand he’s your student, and I understand he resembles your late son Ariel — but don’t you think we may be putting our heads next to the fire by handling things this way?” said the man sitting to Karius’s left.

And immediately, both Karius and Isabelle turned to look at him with an expression Ravian had never seen on either of their faces before.

”Caesar — do you think your strength, or my patience, gives you the right to speak to me like that?” Karius said, and his aura took on its physical form, blazing white and sharp.

Caesar’s pupils trembled in their sockets and cold sweat broke out across his forehead with startling speed.

”I apologize, my lord. I speak only out of concern, nothing more,” Caesar said, rising from his chair immediately and bowing to Karius in apology.

”Sit down. And that is the last time you mention my son Ariel — in front of me or behind my back,” Karius said, no longer even looking at him.

Caesar nodded quickly, sat back down, and said nothing more.

Then Karius turned to look at Ravian.

”I imagine this is the first time you’ve heard the name Ariel,” Karius said, and there was a faint, barely-there catch in his voice.

Ravian looked at him and nodded.

”Yes, my lord,” Ravian said — even though he did know something about it, since Karius had mentioned it once before, though Karius had no way of knowing that.

”Ariel was my firstborn son. He died in the war fifteen years ago against the Twilight Empire — at the hands of one of the Rasassian guards.

None of their Walkers could face him in single combat, and their soul liberators couldn’t capture him, so they were forced to use underhanded methods to corner him and kill him during one of our raids,” Karius explained, and the pride in his voice was impossible to miss.

’So that’s how he died — at the hands of one of the guards. And it seems the war between these two empires is anything but recent,’ Ravian thought, watching Karius as he spoke.

”He looked like you,” Isabelle said suddenly, looking at Ravian.

”He always seemed physically frail despite how powerful he was. And he always had that irritated look on his face — like he didn’t want to be wherever he was,” Isabelle said, and her gaze drifted to the table in front of her as the memories came back, a faint smile forming on her lips without her seeming to notice.

”But he wasn’t careless like you. He was quiet most of the time, and he had a great deal of knowledge and learning, and he was—”

She seemed to be sinking deeper into the memory, but she did not get far.

”That’s enough, Isabelle. We’re here for something far more important than revisiting the past,” Karius cut in.

”Understood, Father,” Isabelle said, nodding calmly.

Karius turned back to Ravian.

”Don’t concern yourself with any of that. I accepted you because of your talent and your instincts, and because I knew you’d be more useful here than working with the city guard on internal matters — and I expect you to live up to that,” he said, looking at Ravian, though the faint unsteadiness in his voice nearly gave him away.

”I’ll meet your expectations, Teacher,” Ravian replied without blinking.

”Good. Continue, Frank,” Karius said, satisfied with the answer, and looked back to Frank.

”Of course, my lord,” Frank said, picking up where he left off.

”First — all spies from the Twilight Empire who carried out infiltration raids on the camp at dawn today have been eliminated,” Frank began.

”Good,” Karius said with a nod.

”We’ve also called in the mages of the Foresight Sect to conduct a thorough sweep of the entire camp and confirm that no stragglers are still hiding inside,” Frank continued, and Karius gave no particular reaction to that.

’The Foresight Sect? Isn’t that one of the external sects based outside the Empire?’ Ravian found some memories about the sect but could not place its origins or its role in this world.

Karius noticed Ravian’s frown and gave Frank a small look with his eyes.

Frank caught it and glanced over at Ravian.

”The Foresight Sect is one of the sects affiliated with the Fourteen Taboos — specifically one of the seven good ones among them, as far as we’re concerned at least,” Frank said to Ravian, keeping his voice even.

Ravian’s eyes widened slightly when he heard that name again. It had a strange resonance inside his soul, and he could not find the source of it.

”The Foresight Sect falls under the seven good Taboos — the Taboo of Fate,” Frank continued, and his expression darkened slightly at the last two words.

A flash of aura shot out from Karius and wrapped around Frank’s body, which brought his expression back to calm.

”What just happened?” Ravian said, clearly confused.

”That’s what happens when one of the Fourteen Taboos is named or even thought about too directly. The lower your rank, and the more you know about them, the worse the reaction,” Isabelle answered.

”And the reaction is several times worse if it involves one of the seven demonic Taboos,” she added, and did not go further into detail — for obvious reasons.

Ravian’s heart thudded hard — especially when Frank had said the word Fate.

And the strange part was that it did not settle down afterward.

It got stronger.

Sweat began to appear on Ravian’s face and neck, and his breathing rate started climbing with every passing second.

”Ravian?” The first to notice was Isabelle, who happened to be looking at him at that moment.

”Ravian?!” Karius looked over and jumped from his seat the moment he saw Ravian’s reddening face and his quickening breaths.

He moved toward him along with the other four faction leaders and Frank, but Ravian had already lost control of his body and was starting to tip backward.

Karius reached out quickly and caught him before he fell, then drew out his white aura and wrapped it around Ravian’s body.

”What in the hell is happening?!” Karius shouted, his voice stripped bare of its usual composure, watching Ravian’s condition barely change even with the aura surrounding him.

”Sir Karius, I told you! This boy is dangerous — those symptoms aren’t normal. He is without a doubt one of the seeds of the Fourteen Taboos!!” Caesar shouted, pulling his long sword from beside his armor.

”Shut your mouth, Caesar!!” Karius roared, his body blazing with brilliant white light as his aura surged into its physical form and flooded nearly the entire room.

Ravian barely heard any of it. His consciousness was being pulled further and further away from the room, dragged toward somewhere unknown.