6 Chapter 6 - Amenophis

"You seriously think I give a damn about whatever 'final blessing'?" Casino Riot didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had just been informed that the last blessing left him in a coma for an entire year. Now they expected him to go near this wall again?

Sacred?

More like cursed!

"Lucky, we have to do something! Once those guys report out what you've done...we'll never live another day in peace in Nibiru City! Silver Mercury are the undisputed rulers over the city, and their reckless and lawless behavior has ruined the outer and inner sectors." Surprisingly the voice that begin explaining the current situation was Margot Frenzy! This left Casino stunned, wasn't Maggie unconscious even longer then himself? Did he get it wrong? However, when he glanced at Capital and Bravo he saw both of their mouths agape. Clearly they were more stunned then Casino was. Maggie's eyes shined with an intelligent light as she continued, "Only the middle sector was left unharmed because of the high schools and the university. Silver Mercury didn't dare provoke them, in fear that they would risk everything to defend the against the coupe!"

"Mags...how could you know that? How do you know any of this?" Bravo Frenzy was dumbfounded. By the time he climbed up after crash landing from the wormhole, his little sister was staring speechlessly at the Sacred Blessing Wall. Bravo had yet to explain the situation to her clearly when Capital arrived, and then the three of them worrying for Casino came afterwards.

"Big brother, I'm okay. I was in a strange state for the past year. It was...humbling, to say the least. I could not control my body, but I was completely conscious. I perceived everything I was around on a profound level," Margot Frenzy's voice was light and airy, as if she had experienced a great journey. Bravo's face was full of shock, confusion, and concern, while Capital wore an insightful look.

Casino Riot on the other hand was not actively paying attention to their conversation at this moment. He had assumed that once he calmed down his blood would likely relax, and he may even experience a period of weakness. However, his blood was boiling even fiercer than before! It was getting worse by the second. Casino felt like he was on fire! His body felt like it was literally exploding with strength!

The pain was blinding to his other senses.

He had no idea what to do, so he immediately sat down and begin to cultivate his mystic origin ascetically. The other youths were startled when they discovered this change, but no one spoke out of fear of disturbing Casino. After a few seconds, myriad mysterious lights emitting an ancient aura begin to gather and pour into Casino's body life a whirlpool.

The skies above the abandoned alleyway darkened and storm clouds made of origin energy condensed in the sky. Citizens all over the Nibiru City were frightened at this disturbance. In the dinner hall of a large and beautiful white mansion in the middle sector of the city, a handsome and robust middle-aged man with a scar on his cheek furrowed his brows, as he looked in the direction of Casino and the gang.

"What is this surging vitality? Could it be that there's unidentified mystics in Nibiru City? Is this connected to Alfred?" the middle-aged man had a bit of trepidation in his voice. He immediately pulled out a communication device. It was shaped like a small hand mirror and opened up to a light panel. "Rook. Investigate this anomaly personally! I want to know what the hell is going on in the outer sector."

Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers away in the main hall of an office building, a man wearing a white suit was in the middle of a business meeting when he sensed a uncomfortably familiar aura and had a sudden glint in his eye. Savage fury flashed on his face for the briefest of instances before he resumed his cheerful countenance. He knew exactly where this aura originated, he would never mistake it.

Amenophis!

Meanwhile back in the alley, thick white origin mist blanketed the alleyway, and the walls suddenly begin glowing in golden light and runic patterns flew out of the wall condensing into a scarlet gold dragon silhouette. The dragon silhouette soared grandly into the sky, it's body stretching for hundreds of meters, and releasing a earth shaking roar, before plummeting straight down into Casino's glabella. Casino's eyes flashed open, glowing in golden light! As the dragon silhouette descended three light spheres separated from its body and landed on the glabella of each of the other three youths.

All of their bodies shook intensely before they were rendered unconscious, as the last of the dragon's silhouette entered the center of Casino's forehead. Casino Riot, on the other hand, was actually still conscious, in spite of the dragon's silhouette trying to disperse his consciousness. The boiling of his blood allowed him to retain a thread of focus. With this thread he desperately tried to increase his mystic origin by refining the surrounding origin energy!

To Casino's shock he immediately broke past the barrier leading to the third level! However, it didn't end there! He successively broke through to the fourth level, the fifth level, all the way up to the middle-sixth level Hard Body realm as the origin energy charged into his body like a 100,000 man strong calvary stampeding through him. He could feel the strength his body increasing astronomically!

Due to his rapid and successive breakthroughs Casino Riot's body felt very unstable, so he continued cultivating desperately. After three hours passed his boiling blood finally calmed down and an outrageously powerful fatigue swept over him. Casino felt as the strength left his body and his consciousness begin to drift.

"You are quite an intelligent boy. I thought to knock you unconscious and raise your realm myself...to think you would resist and that you had the same plan. The results are much better liek this. We are indeed kin." a deep and booming voice suddenly invaded Casino's mind as an ancient song could be heard suddenly, erasing his fatigue.

"Who?!" Casino Riot was appalled! Kin? Who the hell was speaking with him?

"You're life partner is still so weak. You must nourish him properly in the future! I will help you with this." the mighty voice continued as if it never heard Casino speak at all. Casino was so confused. Life partner? What the hell was going on! However, this voice was penetrating all of his senses directly from his soul, he couldn't figure out how to combat this.

"Indeed, it is time for you to learn of your heritage. Your father has left me in charge of guiding you through your youth. Do not worry. We may be trapped and surrounded by humans, but now that your bloodline has awakened I can slowly merge with your..."

"Enough!" Casino Riot used all his concentration to force himself into the perceptive force state, and then managed to yell out using a powerful Soul thought. He was met by silence for a few minutes of time, which allowed him to recover his tranquil mind. It's hard for Casino's emotions to be stirred, but once they were it was explosive.

"You, brat...in all honesty you seem to be much better than Meno." Within a newly opened space of Casino's mind, the hazy shadow of a scarlet gold dragon manifested slowly as it continued speaking, "Fine, it seems I can not be as heavy handed with you as I had to be with your father. I would like to ask you something. Who do you think you are?"

"I don't even know who you are, should I start telling you my life story? You say you knew my father? Well that makes one of us," Asked Casino Riot calmly now that he had grasped the method of communicating with his soul. In spite of Casino's calm voice, the impatience and resentment was felt loud clear by the dragon shadow since it had already entered the pool of ethereal matter in his soul. Of course Casino heard the name Meno before, his older sister would often go into periods when she couldn't shut up about this man that donated the yang essence that created them both. Casino knew his name even though he had never seen his face.

Meno Riot!

That was the name of his so-called father.

Sigh...

The heaviness of this sigh made Casino's body quake slightly as the dragon shadow spoke, "Your father was my life partner. We were two parts of a whole. From a certain perspective I could be considered half your father. However it would be more appropriate to consider me the father of your life partner."

Casino Riot was a rather intelligent young man. He seemed to figure something out from the dragon shadow's previous words, "Father...life spirit. Wait a minute! Are you the one responsible for giving us the sacred blessings every year? Then..."

"Correct. The year you arrived here was the year that I discovered you. I had just recovered from a coma, and Meno was in no condition to move. However, I could sense his bloodline in you, as could he. He used his throne to create a passage for you, and I used my own to merge with this area, protecting it from outsiders." The dragon shadow was no longer as overbearing as when it arrived, it's voice was calm and smooth, it made Casino feel relaxed. "Merely, I never expected your friends to follow you. I was forced to gift them with insights as well, less it make any trouble for you. Because my power in this realm is limited, I was only able to help a little before needing to rest. This is because Meno...had passed."

"So...the expert whose golden blood I touched...you mean..." Casino's heart was wrapped up in a thousand complicated feelings. "That man was...my dad?"

Casino Riot grew up in this country of Avaria, but not within Nibiru city. His mother and stepfather's home was in a city called Acadia, several thousand miles away. When Casino reached the age of six it was seen that he had an outstanding physique, so he was immediately enrolled in Thoth Academy. Thoth Academy was divided into three schools, and all the students had to start from elementary school to be apart of the academy. Middle and High school aged students couldn't enroll.

Growing up his older sister, Meri Riot, who shared the same parents had been the only one to tell him things about his father. His mother allowed him to call his step-father 'daddy' until he found out the truth on his own. Casino inwardly considered this his life's greatest humiliation, he didn't speak to his mother for two days! However, her tear stained face made his heart melt in the end. It was merely that his step-father was far from kind to him, this made him disgusted once he knew they shared no relation.

He had never felt connected to this man! His step-father, Marc Rizen, was everything but outright cruel to him! He behaved militant to the extreme, and would punish Casino with physical labor for the smallest indiscretion. His step-father would always tell his mother that he just wanted Casino to be a strong warrior when he grew up. But once Casino knew the truth about his father then he realized that this man secretly hated him. Merely, due his mother this man was unable to truly harm him.

These thoughts were confirmed in Casino's heart once his younger sister Chevy Rizen was born. The way his step-father doted on his sister made him seem like an entirely new man. However, it only made the way he treated Casino more apparent! In fact, Casino wasn't the only one to notice how drastic this difference was, his mother was of course the first to realize. However, could she blame her husband for adoring their flesh and blood child? Even if something was clearly suspicious, it didn't seem of a heavy enough weight to put down.

As for Casino Riot, he was also rather fond of this baby sister of his that was the spitting image of his adored mother. He couldn't bring himself to dislike her even a little bit. It could be said that no one in the house gave in to Chevy more than Casino, in spite of how he felt about her father. As for his own father, Casino truly did harbor quite a bit of resentment towards him. After a long talk with his mother, he only understood that his father made a horrible decision and committed a terrible crime. One that even she herself felt incomparably betrayed by. In the end he was incarcerated and as far as Casino knew he was supposed to be there until he died.

However, this new information startled him. His dad was here in this city eight years ago? He died here in this very alley, right in front of Casino's face? He suddenly remembered that man's words at the time, "My...son...the dragon sleeps within...Amen will light your path...I give you the gift...of the Pharaoh!"

He suddenly understood. He would never forget the warm look in that mans scarlet golden eyes before he called him his son. At the time, Casino had literally thought nothing of it. He was more interested in the ancient hieroglyphics on the wall! It wasn't as if he never considered the possibility of that being his father, he simply didn't think it was possible. That dying man was clearly delirious, and they did happen to look similar. He had told himself it was merely a coincidence. Anyway, he had never told anyone but his older sister about what that man had said.

Meri also thought it was impossible.

However, it would now appear they were both wrong. This dragon shadow didn't seem to need to lie to him. After all, it had indeed been giving them gifts for the better half of his life. This alone forced Casino to treat this being as a trusted senior. "Senior, what should this one call you?"

"I am Amenophis of the Plasma Dragon clan. You may call me Grandmaster Amen." said Amenophis.

"Grandmaster Amen, can you tell me what you did to my friends? Also what has happened to Margot?" Casino Riot had actually missed Maggie's explanation, so he asked Amenophis directly.

Amenophis was momentarily stunned that this child was more concerned with his friends then his own father, but he could also understand this point. After all, from a certain perspective it could be said he had cultivated their friendship himself, "Margot Frenzy is like you, she is not 100% of the Fallen Hero race, she has a very special bloodline. I have awakened her sacred bone prematurely. She had the talent to withstand it. Her brother, on the other hand, does not need my help for this. For now, it would do you no good to know what their bloodline is. However, if you disagree I will tell you."

"That's fine, as long as she is fine. Merely, what is a Sacred Bone?" asked Casino Riot.

"Sacred bones are what identify the royal lineage of the ancient races. All royal members of an ancient race will possess a sacred bone. In extremely rare cases, for those with more than one ancient bloodline, multiple sacred bones may exist. Merely, most ancient races can not copulate with each other and produce an offspring." Amenophis explained patiently, as two sparkling scarlet golden lights appeared in the dragon shadow like two eyes staring deeply at him, "In fact, it is difficult for our ancient races to have offspring in general."

"Are the Dragon clan an ancient race as well?" asked Casino Riot suddenly.

"The Dragon clan's status is special. However, we can be considered an ancient race. Most of our race were born from the ancestors of your race one way or another." said Amenophis.

"So that's the case," said Casino Riot as if he had understood something, "So then, do I also have a sacred bone?"

"You actually have…" Amenophis hesitated as if he had not meant to say this. However, once riding the tiger, was it so easy to get off? "Three."

"Woah?! Does that mean I'm like some super hybrid?" Casino Riot was actually not excited about this. One sacred bone? That's awesome. Two? That could more awesome. Three? That just sounded like trouble.

"Two of them I am able to identify but…one I am not. Unfortunately this unidentified sacred bone seems to be the dominant force in your body." Amenophis' voice seemed to contain some worry. This warmed Casino's heart towards this dragon shadow a bit more. This Amenophis seemed to genuinely care for him! "This quite perplexing, I've pondered over it for years, but I am still not quite sure what has happened to you. I believe it involved whatever your father passed you. The year I met you, you only possessed two. The third came afterwards."

"If you're my dad's life partner, that doesn't mean you live and die together?" Casino asked. He had been curious about this the entire time, but he was still slightly wary against this dragon shadow at first.

"You're father was an exceptional Divine Pharaoh. He laid out a spirit formation that enabled me to exist in this alley until you matured to a level that could handle my strength. It was his wish that I fused with you and became a source of power for you in the future. This is his gift to you, his son. Whom he could not raise himself." There was heavy melancholy in Amenophis voice, as if this was a depressing and solemn mission that he took the utmost care in. Casino frowned.

"If he had been here himself, would there even be a need for all of this? Would there be a need for me to call Marc Rizen my father for the beginning five years of my life? Would there.."

"MARC RIZEN!" Before Casino Riot could finish his rant, Amenophis' voice struck like lightning in his head. Casino felt uncontrollable fury rise up in the depths of his soul. Apparently the old dragon was severely enraged. What the heck just happened?