While the outside world and the girls who marked here were going crazy and wishing all about, many just wished to rush in and check everything, the inside wasn't all that good or rested either. A moment later, it all went down, and the information was spread. Max Lionheart arrived, arrived with his army, and the academy had no sway to stop that at all.

He came with his own personal army, one trained and fully loyal to him, and above all, he is the leading patriarch and the grandfather of Austin, so he had the right to visit. Though the right to bring his army came with the markings he received for being the leader and the general of the army, which is very, very special in the world.

Only a few across the realm know of that secret identity, the identity that makes Max Lionheart the general that commands the army that hunts down corrupted beings, an army that is secretly active in parts, fighting back a secretly gathered being that tries to leak away from a certain hidden point, leaking beings corrupted from a level that is beyond understanding.

What lies in truth is that Max is the commander, the general and the leading one who has been keeping this army at bay for a long time. He isn't the only general, but he is extremely respected, which gives him a special position and power in the world, position that comes with certain perks here and there.

The legends spilled about him already make him something many aspire to be, but hidden away, there exist several legends that couldn't be spilled because of the secrecy in what he had done, things that only the top of the top knows, things that make any of his enemies tremble in where they stood in fear.

The issue arose with the fact that Max was chosen to lead the army, the members being supplied by the war councils themselves, powerful, talented or war-worn criminals. At one point in time, being just supplied with the worst of the worst, useless ones, they were throwing them away. It was a time when people didn't give a lot of care about the issues of corruption.

Anyhow, those members who went into that army never came out the same way, and all of them, meaning all of them, came back with loyalties that lay with Max Lionheart. They had bled for him, died for him, maimed for him, and in the end, even if they didn't have any limbs left, they would still find a way to crawl back to the battlefield if Max called for their name.

It was borderline worship, and at one point in time, the war council even suspected that Max was dousing them with some kind of forbidden magic, like brainwashing or something. Even if something like that didn't exist much, they were that much in shock that they even checked for something as ludicrous as that, but all that came out was loyalty born from the truth.

Many of the ones that survived in that hell grew. They grew powerful. They grew into the most powerful army. The war council had tried to buy that man, tried to give him the vast, to see the position he protected to fall, so they could place someone more adequate in that location, but none of it ever worked out.

The more they pressed on him, the harder he came back, the better he became, the more power he held, soon becoming one of the most respected generals and power holders in that region. The only mistake Max ever made was not to fight for more power politically and in a faction-like way. He had everything he ever wanted, so he didn't try to fight for any more kind of power at all.

In even more truth, the being that only Austin understands, is that Max doesn't even want to live that much either. The only reason he keeps living and fighting is to keep his family safe. He longs for his dead wife and to be with her in those past times. He only cared about war and his army, so by the time he realised he needed to gather political power, it was too late.

And after that realisation came, he had lost far too much by then, too.

But even then, he still holds a large amount of military might in his hand, and even many friends across the army and war council, which is the main reason the war council didn't have any intentions of coming in hard or touching and playing with Austin.

Why else would they be holding back so much?

Else the moment they learned the fact that Austin can do what he can do, they would have taken control of him, but all they did was stay in the dark and keep praising him up, because if they moved too fiercely, then they knew they would win, but it would come at a price. And doing that right now, when things were messy and not clean, wasn't the best choice.

So they only made small moves, enough to irritate, but not enough to cross the line. But things went sideways now. Everything went sideways now in a very spectacular fashion.

The day Max Lionheart arrived in the academy was one for all to see.

He only brought 1,000 of his best men when entering the academy, and as one with authority over corruption, he came with all the titles. The academy couldn't turn him down.

The 1,000 men had arrived in order. They stayed in order, the spears in their hands held tight, and they all stood in formation. The bloodthirsty aura around them was so potent in the colour red that it seemed like corruption was swirling around them. A hint of it also lay with them in that, too.

The gates swirled together, and soon Max Lionheart stepped out of them. The man looked as powerful as he always looked, his eyes getting a shine of grey held wisdom and might, and his aura seemed to swallow up everything that came into attention with him. The 1,000 warriors started to hit the ground with their spears.

It was light touches, but their gathered might, worship, and reverence were clear as it started to twist the atmosphere. To the world, it looked like they were announcing the arrival of their god. In the end, Mira stood watching being Mira, and some of the elders and teachers, all high-level and powerful, perhaps at the same level of power or higher than Max Lionheart, but at that moment, all of them felt weak.

They could see red mana-like twists swirling around Max, his gaze held straight, and in their line of sight, they saw it. The atmosphere started to twist, like a tornado forming. It was more of an illusion than truth, like the aura around him was getting dark and twisting everything around them, one gathered from all he did and saw.

Max walked with light steps as he kept moving forward, his steps ringing.

Thud... Thud... Thud!

The soldiers kept tapping the ground, shaking everything in sight, matching his rhythm as Max soon reached towards Mira.

"Dad."

Mira called out, her eyes red, and seeing this, Max lightly took his daughter for a hug, giving her a light kiss on her forehead as he spoke.

"Don't worry, everything's alright."

As he said so, it seemed like the truth was spoken. To Mira, it was the warmest words, safety from the man that has always held up the world for her. But to the others, it felt like the words of the devil that had clawed out from hell. They could see a black dark shift around his form, as if he was the embodiment of death walking by.

Pissed is the very lesser term that Max Lionheart would use to describe the feeling he is going through at the moment. Right now, he only has one child left, his daughter, who is the spitting image of his late wife, and now, seeing her eyes red, knowing what happened to his grandson, only fills Max with feelings for which words hadn't been invented yet.

Thus, Max marched on with Mira, heading to meet his family, whatever that remains, which he protects with fierce might and will.

"Let's go."

Max said, patting the head of his daughter as they led away. Not a single time did Max give a gaze of any kind or talk towards the gathered elders or teachers, and they didn't tell a peep about it at all. The two of them, as a family, just rushed home.

At the place called home lay Austin. He lay asleep, looking very peaceful, having not moved an inch for about a week. Surrounding him at the moment sat three stunning women, all with worry in their eyes.

Grace had reddened eyes and a tired look. Nora seemed to have a fearful look, which was held together with suppressed rage. And Elda just looked all guilty and broken in a way as she too sat at one edge of the bed, holding Austin's fingers.

"Big brother, wake up..."

She whispered as she held together her heart in her hands, and hidden away within this room, watching and worried, was another woman, her figure undetected even to an Imperial.

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