The Prince Of Magic

...

...

[… The Watch – Underwater Headquarters …]

...

Hadrian frowned as he watched his retainers' ventures through the monitor.

It had been fifteen minutes or so since his Arash and the others had ventured into the Spider's nest, and it was admittedly one of the most nerve-wrecking things that he had experienced.

The worst he had the disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of knowing was that one time when he discovered about the existence of the Far Side of the Moon, of which had some nasty things that lurked within in the forms of data errors.

Although, watching his retainers venture the strange island through a monitor was still one of the worst experience for him, and it took him to restrain himself from accompanying them.

However, as much as it pained him, Hadrian had to stay behind to protect the base and the members of the Watch.

Fortunately, Arash and the others seemed to handling themselves well against the intruders.

Their training within the Arena had paid off as they all worked together to corner their opponents, attacking their enemies with the combination of great team work and strategies that they often use in practice runs in the Moon Cell's dungeons, much to his mild surprise.

His retainers' combat prowess and well-balanced team work were so smooth and executed with ease, it made Hadrian feel a bit nervous at the thought of training with them in the future.

His retainers have a habit of proposing practice battles with a one-vs-two or more to increase his own battle experience.

Speaking of Arash, Hadrian was glad to see that the magical trinket he gave to the servant of the bow had worked on earth.

The small vial attached to the bracelet contained a single feather that was called the 'Phoenix Down', one of the things that Hadrian brought over from his old world via the Armiger Arsenal.

In his past life, Hadrian had travelled the world of Eos in search for the tombs of the previous kings and queens of Lucis. He had done so in order to collect the thirteen royal weapons of the past Lucian rulers as it was dictated by tradition, and along the way, he came across a large tuft of strange feathers that belonged to a divine entity named 'Suzaku'.

According to Gentiana, the High Messenger of the Gods, Suzaku was an entity whose power was on par with the seven astral deities.

She had even gone as far as to say that if Suzaku wanted to, he could defeat the estranged astral, Ifrit, in a straight-up battle, despite the both of them sharing the same fire element.

Moreover, Gentiana explained to Hadrian that Suzaku had approved of his character then, which was surprising given the divine entity's personality.

Apparently, Suzaku had somewhat of a reserve personality, preferring to have less contact with the dealings of mortals than most of its kind.

It was only when Hadrian came along that the divine entity became interested and had become more active with his involvement with humans. Although, the great phoenix still preferred the subtle approach instead of revealing himself outright.

Said 'subtle approach' came in the form of tufts of phoenix feathers, which Hadrian had gathered a lot in his travels from his first life and kept in the Armiger Arsenal for safe-keeping.

It was only recently that he made use of the Phoenix Downs in his special inventory again when he discovered the negative effect in Arash's Noble Phantasm.

He had been worried that the magical item would only work within the premises of the Moon Cell, but he was relieved to see that the Phoenix Down still works, despite being in a different world with a different set of rules in magic than it normally was in his original world.

If not for the Phoenix Down, Arash would have been lost to him before their contract even lasted for a month.

The servant of the bow has the tendency to accidentally use his Noble Phantasm sometimes when the fight goes hard, which would cause his death in effect, something that Hadrian would prefer to prevent. Arash might not have minded dying for a good cause, such as protecting his master, but Hadrian considered him as a friend whose loyalty and character deserved to be rewarded.

Needless to say, the reward was the Phoenix Down that was imbued with the power of True Magic to maintain its effect in an everlasting manner, and Arash was more than happy to receive it.

'Thank goodness for the Phoenix Down…' Hadrian mused with a sigh.

As for his main reason for staying behind, it was due to a certain sensation that he was being watched once again.

It started as a niggling ominous feeling, as if red ants crawled up his skin, and that was when he knew someone was watching him.

Ironically enough, the Moon Cell was helpful to notify him about the matter earlier, something that he appreciated. He had his suspicions that someone was keeping tabs on him, but it was nice to have it confirmed instead of him wondering about it whenever it happens.

Considering that it was second time, Hadrian had no doubts that whoever is watching was involved with the intruders.

The timing of the intruders' arrival was too coincidental not to be viewed as such.

Regardless of what he feels about the matter, the objective still remained the same for him, but the downside was that his movements had become a bit restricted once again.

Having someone watch his every move was frustrating on his part, moreso as it meant that Hadrian was unable to use most of his abilities and spells, especially the kind that was designed solely for destruction.

Hadrian had been intending to use some of his unique spells to assist his retainers from far away, but with someone watching him, he was having second thoughts.

Don't get him wrong, he still wanted to help his retainers, but he also didn't want his stalker to know what kind of tricks he has under his sleeve.

Hadrian would rather keep his stalker in the dark of what he can do for as long as possible, not when he still had yet to discover his enemies' identities.

...

...