"What if Raia and Varant don't kill each other as we planned? What then?" Cassius asked, but not before making sure that no one else was there.

" Why won't they?" Lucifer inquired, frowning. "Raia wants the rule. Varant is the biggest obstruction in his path. I don't think he will miss this chance when he has the opportunity. He would certainly keep trying to kill Varant."

​​

"And when a person constantly tries to kill you, you'll try to kill him as well. It's natural. So that's what you'll see. And if this doesn't pan out as we planned, we would just have to make the situation such that it does happen the way we want. I have a lot of ways to do that," he further added as he looked at the beautiful rising sun.

"I hope you're right," Cassius agreed.

"Did you go to check up on Ayn?" He further asked.

"I haven't. There's no need to do that either. Veracity is with them," Lucifer responded. "She should be able to handle it."

"By the way, what is that Sword Formation? That seemed pretty good," he inquired as he thought back to the skill that was used by Cassius. Unfortunately, the attack was stopped before it could commence, making it so that he wasn't able to see what it actually did.

"That formation? That's not even my strongest Sword Formation. My family owns a lot of them. Think of them as a tool to boost your sword attacks," Cassius answered. "The one I used was called the Amplifier Formation. "

" Amplifier Formation? It means it amplifies your strength?" Lucifer inquired, trying to guess its use from the name.

"That's correct, I guess. It actually absorbs the strength of the enemy's attack, which is released at the time we attack."

"In simple terms, it's like you attack me with X. And I attack you with Y. So if I use this formation, I can attack you with the combination of X and Y while defending myself," Cassius explained in simpler terms.

" This formation sounds good. What other formations are there?" Lucifer asked, trying to broaden his horizons as he felt like he could see a future possibility for himself.

"There are many more formations. Like Boost Formation that multiplies the strength of your attack by twice. The defensive formation that protects you from the attacks but doesn't attack back like the Amplifier Formation. That would be just like a normal barrier," Cassius informed Lucifer.

"Oh right, there's also an Invisible Formation," he further added.

"Invisible formation? Does that make you invisible?" Lucifer inquired.

"Not really. It just makes the sword invisible. I haven't used that formation, but it can come really handy at times. You know, to sneak attack someone," Cassius responded, smiling. "As I said previously, the world of formations is really vast."

"Why wasn't it taught in the Academy?" Lucifer asked. "It seems useful."

"It does seem useful but only for swordsmen. Moreover, there aren't many swordsmen in the Academy. So including it would be useless. Moreover, even if they wanted, they couldn't," Cassius answered.

"Only a few families that created the formations control them. They decide if the formation knowledge is shared publicly or not. As you can already guess, no family would share such a thing. Even my own family won't share it. It's our family secrets," he further added.

" Can't these formations work without swords? I mean, at the core of it, they're just formations. If I can make them without becoming a Swordsman, my attack should be amplified as well, won't it?" Lucifer asked, glancing at his hand.

He could imagine thousands of formations opening in the sky as he used the Wrath of Heaven. Each of his lightning bolts could become even stronger with the formations.

"Do you even need any Formations to make your attacks stronger? I mean, your attack is already the strongest, from what I can see. I don't think I've seen any stronger attack than the sky lighting in my lifetime," Cassius let out as he smiled wryly.

"Yeah, but I'm just curious. Is that possible?" Lucifer asked, frowning.

"I don't think it's possible. At least I haven't seen or heard something like this. But the world is vast, so who knows," Cassius responded.

" If you want to use the Formations, I can teach you though. But you'll have to learn to use the Sword too. That'll be more time-consuming than learning to drive," he continued.

"Learn to use a sword? Maybe in the future," Lucifer muttered, looking in the distant horizon.

"Someone's here," Cassius suddenly said as he noticed the door opening.

"Here you are!" A voice came as the door opened.

" Alicia?" Lucifer inquired as he turned back.

"Of course it's me. I came here to call you. We're all ready. So what are you doing here? We got the information that the APF will soon be here. Get ready! You aren't allowed to screw this up for us!" Alicia firmly said.

"Let alone me, no one in the world is allowed to screw this up for us," Lucifer agreed. Just that there was a different meaning hidden in his agreement.

"Oh right, did you think of the task you want me to do in return for the lost bet?" Alicia inquired suddenly.

"I certainly did," Lucifer replied as a smirk appeared on his face. "It's a simple task as well."

….

It was a bright sunny day, with mild wind and the cheerful chirping of the cricket outside.

Situated in the serene atmosphere was an abandoned town. It had been vacated for the upcoming war.

The faint wind carried the dust from the ground, spiraling it through the streets before brustling the clothes of a group of people.

The dust landed on their still figures, settling on them as those figures stood tall.

The figure at the front dusted his cloth once, revealing his pristine appearance.

It was thanks to the Cardigan Particles clothes he wore, which looked even more luxurious than ordinary clothes.

Wearing a long coat and sporting white, spiky hair was the man that exuded a suffocating presence. Raia, the leader of Variant Uprising. He seemed to be waiting for someone.

With a look, he glanced around the group behind him, numbering around a thousand strong.

Focusing on the hundreds of new recruits at the back, he shook his head while thinking, 'They wouldn't be much useful in the war.'

Lucifer stood beside him, wondering what he was thinking about. Kellian and Yaliza also stood nearby, waiting for the right time to come.

From what they had heard, not much time was left in the arrival of the APF squad in the city.