179 Magical

"Ah... Ah... What is this? Is this magic? It looks like a magic palace." Rachel's eyes are filled with sparkles. Everyone of Tsumugi's family is amused by the lights and the beauty of the palace.

They all start walking on the carpet while looking at the lights above them. Jonathan is amused by the carpet glowing along with his footsteps. Fab is overwhelmed by his emotions.

"Hi, Faust!" As they get closer to the building, Faust is approached by Caitlyn, whom he did not see from two months.

"Ca-Kaat?" Faust did not stutter with the sudden appearance of Caitlyn but by her charm and prettiness. She's wearing a long white dress with a thigh-high slit. an opening where one of her legs is sticking out up to her thighs.

Caitlyn nods in response, Faust takes small steps towards her while still in disbelief. Tsumugi and the family is surprised. As long as they are aware of, Faust did not go out or goof out with girls in the house before the purge. After the purge, he is asleep until today. then from where did he know such a beautiful girl in the house of Ashura's.

"Isn't she the daughter of Raphel?" Tsumugi's husband whispers into the ears of Tsumugi.

"Makes sense, I was just thinking that I saw her somewhere." Tsumugi replies in a low voice.

Faust catches the mutterings behind him and snaps back from the mesmerization. "Ah, Guys! This is Caitlyn, my..." Faust takes a pause and everyone sharpens their hearing senses to catch the next words from Faust's mouth. 

"She's my friend!" Faust utters and the anticipating family members sighs in relief.

"Um, Faust! Will you dance with me tonight?" Rachel's cheeks turn red upon hearing Caitlyn asking Faust for a dance. 

"Y-yes sure." Faust accepts without a moment of hesitation. Caitlyn moves closer to him, she grabs the coat of Faust on his elbow and lowers her face in shy. Caitlyn wants to hold his arm while walking but for now, she could only hold his coat in shyness.

Faust' heart skipped a beat, a girl he likes is holding is coat and standing close to him. He walks carefully not to trip and make a fool of himself.

Seeing young couples in love, Tsumugi grabs and holds the arm of her husband and continues walking. Fab, Jonathan and Rachel tries not to laugh and walks along behind Tsumugi and her husband.

As they all go inside the hall, they are welcomed with a baguette shape crystals, suspended row after row from a gold body. The lights are illuminating golden makeover to the entire hall. A melodious instrumental with piano and Violin are playing in the background.

Every noble family is present in the hall and everyone rushes towards Tsumugi and Faust the moment they see them. They congratulate the family not just for surviving the purge but also for coming on top.

Faust became the new talk of the house for his mysterious powers and his bipolar behaviour at the end of the match. Faust does not remember what he did to Garuda or how he even won. He just knows that he someone win over Garuda. Which is why he does not get the stares of some members in the hall.

"I-I came here for you, to see you frequently but you always denied saying that you're busy. So unfair Caitlyn." Faust pouts while he and Caitlyn are standing at a side leaning their backs onto the table with some displays.

"You know that my brother is a captain right! I can't make up lies and take a day off with him."

"Heh well, your guy here is also a captain now baby!" Faust turns towards Caitlyn with a smug face and tries to tickle her to make her smile. Before that, a huge crowd is seen gathering with a lot of commotion in front of the stairs that lead to the upstairs.

Faust and Caitlyn are alerted with the noise and realizes that the top three families are walking down the stairs. Caitlyn takes her leave and goes to where her brother is standing. Faust keeps looking at the top families and he catches the prince of the house looking at him, Leviathan too stares at Faust from top to bottom. But this time he has no ill feelings towards Faust. He looks at Faust as his rival.

"Let us first start with the awards and then you guys can eat and drink all you want." Hades announces to everyone but his main focus is on the people that are goofing off near the food and drinks tables.

"The winning team can now step forward." The announcer announces while standing beside Hades, Hades is ready with small medals in his hands.

"Rachel! Position - Sniper."

Rachel goes before Hades, she bends down on one of her knees, lowering her head she stretches her right arm forward. Hades places his left hand on Rachel's palm, to which Rachel responds by grazing her lips onto the knuckles of Hades. A gesture of respect that needs to be shown by soldiers while standing in front of a royal.

Hades firmly grasps the shoulders of Rachel and lifts her on both of her feet. He then proceeds on to pin the medal on the right side of her coat.

"You did a good job, I wish the best for your future." Hades utters the words of motivation and goes on to the next one that is standing beside Rachel.

All four members of Tsumugi's family stands in a line with their heads held high in pride as Hades moves from one to another.

"Jonathan! Position - Assaulter."

Jonathan also goes down on one of his knees and performs the same acts as Rachel. He is also awarded a medal on the right side of his coat. And Hades moves onto the next after some words of motivation.

"Fabulous! Position - Supporter"

Fab goes down on one of his knees and as he stands up Hades places a cloak in his hands. Faust, Tsumugi, Jonathan and Rachel made happy faces upon seeing what Fab is given. Fab is surprised and takes a few moments to understand what is happening.

"You gave eight precious years of your services to this house, and we all think that it's about time you get this Fab, Carry on with your services like a proper captain." As soon as Hades ends his speech, Fab is seen crying and laughing at the same time, the corners of his eyes are crinkled and his eyes swam with tears.

He heart-fully accepts the cloak by holding it dear to his chest. Hades moves on to Faust. And before Faust is about to kneel Hades stops him for an unknown reason that surprised even him. He himself, did not know why he stopped Faust from kneeling.

"Uh... You looked like a warrior in the last match that you fought." Recovering from the blunder he thought is made by him, he pats on Faust's arms praising Faust for his skills and power.

Hades looks to the back of his shoulder and a person holding a virtual keyboard enters behind Hades. He looks like a nerd that handles all the technical work in the background.

Hades turns towards Faust facing him he asks. "What kind of cloak do you prefer? Are you okay with the one you are having now?" Hades asks about the captain cloak of Faust that shredded and became a pile of fibres in the fight with Garuda.

Faust turns pale, he doesn't know what to reply to the person before him. More than anything he is intimidated by Hades standing in front of him. It's almost as if Faust can sense the aura of Hades. "Don't worry, just tell him what you want." Hades tries to ease up Faust and points towards the technical guy behind him.

"U-um I like hoodies and cloaks both." Faust whispers to the guy in a low voice. Hades nods casually and asks the technical person to go on with it.

"Hoodies and cloaks huh? I think I can fuse them both and create a perfect one." Saying that the technical guy plants a small chip in Faust's clothes and goes on to type something on the keyboard.

Faust feels embarrassment as everyone keeps staring at him and nobody would be waiting if it's not for him to lose his captain's cloak. He keeps praying for the tech-guy to be done quickly.

"Ok, we're done, let's see how it fits you." Saying that he presses a button written 'Make' on it and as everyone is watching, blue lines of squares appear on the already worn clothes of Faust like a blueprint before going real. And slowly the worn cloak is deforming as his new cloak appears. It first looks like a sweatshirt hoodie with long sleeves  but at the end near the waist the shape is not round as it comes for hoodies, rather it comes as a hollow shape with a small tail. The whole hoodie is changed from its midway and it looks both comfortable and royal-like. 

And on the left side of the hoodie, under the Japanese kanji letters of Ashura, two new words are written 'Ashura Senpou' translates to 'Divine Ashura'

"Ashura senpou?" Faust asks in a puzzled voice, but he did not notice the buzz in the background. Every member standing in the hall is whispering to each other about the new cloak. And a single person claps in back while the entire hall is silent. 

Caitlyn cannot hold her excitement and claps quickly as she sees Faust wearing a senpou class Cloak. Later, she realizes that she is the only one clapping like an idiot and refrains herself in embarrassment.

'Ashura Senpou' is a class, among few given to a certain captain or generals. If a captain or general is in any of these classes, then they are treated as a high priority. There are four classes among this rarity. 

The first class is 'shisu' - A mortal's level, the captains and generals in this class have permission to wander into 1-5 dimensions with their squads. They get two elemental stones of their desired attributes once every three months.

The second class and a class higher than Shisu is 'Fumetsu' - Immortal's level, the captains and generals in this class have the same permissions as Shisu's. Additionally, they have access till the eighth dimension as well. Meaning, they can access 1-8 dimensions with their squads. They receive four elemental stones for every three months

The third class and the class higher than Shisu and Fumetsu is 'Senpou' - Divine level, the captains and generals in this class have the same permissions as Shisu and Fumetsu. Additionally, they also have access up to the eleventh dimension. Meaning, they can access 1-11 dimensions with their squads. They receive six elemental stones for every three months.

The last and final class is 'Ten' - Heavenly level, only generals above three stars will be given this level of honour. This is also the highest class of all. They get can wander into any dimension, with or without a squad and they have additional permission to the twelfth dimension. They get six elemental stones for every three months.

"Starting today, you are a captain of Senpou class. Looking forward to seeing great achievements from your squad."

"And also, for coming out on top of all houses, your squad will be given a  free wish. You can ask me for anything and you will get it." Hades explains to Faust and his squad.

This is the moment Faust and his squad is waiting for the entire time. This has not happened, according to Tsumugi's plan. She is ready to leave the house for the sake of keeping their family alive, but after the first day of purge, seeing how Faust and his squad came out on top of everyone.

Tsumugi and everyone thought of something. The winner of the purge gets ten elemental stones along with a wish that they could ask for other than for weapons or resources. They could ask for a member, house, rare items or anything they want.

The first thought that hits the members is if they win the second round of purge as well and come out on top, they will be given a wish. And they can ask for Tsumugi back as the leader of their house and everything will be back to normal.

"Ask me anything that you wish for." Hades exclaims and a faint smirk surface on the lips of Faust.

"Can we please have Lady Tsumugi back as the leader of our house please?" Faust closes his eyes and bows his head in front of Hades with sincerity

Hades is surprised by the sudden change of Faust. He recovers and with a casual smile, he replies. "Of course, I said anything, didn't I? Ha-ha."

Faust smiles and the whole squad starts celebrating and thank each other. "Guys, we need to behave in front of our general." Tsumugi comes from behind and mutters in a low voice due to the indecent behaviour of her kids.

"Ha-ha, it's okay! Please also collect your share of ten elemental stones from Robert and enjoy the party." Hades directs Tsumugi and her family towards the person who is in charge of the elemental stones of the house.

"Congrats Tsumugi." Queen Uzume congratulates her sister for becoming the leader of her branch again.

Tsumugi gracefully bows her head facing both Hades and Uzume, before going to Robert with her two captains. "I'm so happy for you Fab, you made it as a captain finally." Faust and Fab holds each other arm in arm while walking. Both of their eyes are flooded with tears due to happiness.

"By the way, where are we heading to Auntie?" Faust asks as he and Fab are walking behind her.

"We are going to collect our winning prize, ten elemental stones." 

"Only ten? Didn't they say my captain class gets like 4-6 elemental stones for every two months?" Faust tries to assess the situation.

"You are given that class, not only because you performed well, but it's also because our family came out as a winner. If we haven't won, Fab wouldn't have become a captain or you would be in that class." Tsumugi explains. The first rule to give a captain or a general, a class of their own is that they have to be in the top three branches of the family or they must be the winner of the purge.

*"I don't know where this family would be if I had lost that match. It was an important one."* Faust says to himself. 

-

"Oh! If it isn't Lady Tsumugi, I heard the news that you are coming to visit me. I did not expect it would be so fast. Let me search for your prize and bring it to you." Robert, the supplier and trader of elemental stones.

Shortly, Robert hands over a pouch of ten elemental stones to Tsumugi. Seven out of the 10 are of different attributes and the remaining three are green elemental stones. Faust notices that there is no black elemental stone that he uses, but he did not say anything.

"We like to sell seven of these and take one green and two reds." Tsumugi wants to sell all of the stones other than one green, which is a spare for Rachel, who uses a sniper with green elemental stone and two red ones, each one for Fab and Jonathan.

Faust is surprised, but Fab looks casually as if this is something they do all the time. "Oh yes, I forgot I'm the trader as well who takes in elemental stones for money." Robert is a trader for the branches of the family. Every squad can bring the elemental stones that they collected from other dimensions and trade them with Robert for money. Later, the elemental stones go to the main building, who sells them to military and saves some to create weapons and conduct experiments.

"Uh, no Auntie, sell only five. We need five stones of different attributes." Faust intervenes between Tsumugi and Robert.

"Huh? Why do we need five stones, each with different attributes?" Tsumugi turns towards Faust to ask him. At the same time, Robert glares at Faust with an evil face. His kind old man vibes are completely taken over by his poisons cunning vibes.

"It's because I'm trying to recruit new soldiers into our house." A small curve forms on the corner of Faust's lips.