( The Agni Dev Pooja)

The royal family was seated infront of the massive statue of the flame god , with the head priest saying incantations as he handed the king ceremonial items to be put into the holy flame in a predestined order to worship the god.

The young prince’s were not present on the worship platform , as once seated one was not allowed to get up from the Pooja untill it was over and considering the fickle nature of kids , and how they could not be kept still at one place for hours , they were usually exempted from attending the Pooja firsthand .

The atmosphere could be described as amiable , as even Augustus behaved civilly today and was respectful of the temple and the phoenix clan elders . Boasting only slightly about the prowess of his grandchildren.

When the Pooja came to the part where the holy flame was carried by the royal women into the specially prepared room , to instill the fire with their blood essence and enrich it to be sacrificed to the fire god , is when the sinister ploy of the conspirators started .

The room being completely soundproof and isolated by various layers of magic , it gave the conspirators exactly 25 minutes untill the royal women came out and discovered the problem.

A loud explosion that rattled the entire earth shook the Agni Dev Pooja , as the men from phoenix clan as well as Augustus and Alexander drew their weapons , becoming alert.

Masked men appeared from the smoke , as they pointed towards Alexander , making a cut-throat sign , declaring their rebellion._.

Alexander inspected the power level of these outsiders , and there were about 15 of them at level 90.

For anyone except for him , this was an incredibly strong party , who should not be messed with , however for Alexander this was a walk in the park. Thinking nothing much of the threat from the bandits , Alexander picked his short sword , as he dashed out towards the bandit , who fled instantly.

The head priest knowing his role shouted at this moment ” PROTECT THE KING”.

As every single one of the phoenix clan members as well as the clergy from the temple , rushed towards the direction Alexander and the bandits had ran towards , vacating the temple grounds.

Usually , Augustus was a very sane man , however he did enjoy a bit of war , as the bloodlust inside him screamed for him to get a piece of the action , as for a moment his mind slipped away from the safety of his grandsons which was otherwise on his mind 24/7.

The moment Augustus had dropped his guard and went to chase after the bandits , it was over for the royal prince’s , as except for the palace maids they had no protection.

The conspirators had successfully achieved the first part of their plot , and had isolated the two prince’s who were now swarmed by the royal maids , sheltered in between a circle .

It was at this moment that roars of ferocious lions fell on the ears of the group of defenceless women , As seemingly out of nowhere ,three berserk flame lions started to circle them inside temple grounds.

The maids started to scream in panic , as they shouted at the top of their voice for help , while throwing whatever they could get their hands on towards the lions in an attempt to scare them away.

However these were lions that were not fed for many days , tortured mercilessly and turned berserk by feeding them berserk potions.

The lion’s had lost all sense of calm and reason , and only became beasts on hunt , as they growled fiercely at the bunch of women , slowly circling in on their prey.

Ronan was dumbfounded by this situation . He had never seen everyone soo panicked before , and to his young self he could not understand the danger he was in , naturally all the shouting and panick made him teary as he started to cry.

The maids sheltered the young Prince’s , as the other maids tried to rush them to safety , however the lions had a tight circle , preventing anyone to escape from their radius of attack.

Percy consoled his little brother , having grown up a bit more and already starting his training against fighting beasts , the big brother was already resolving himself to enter a conflict against the beasts , however found his courage wavering as he was unable to take action.

The maids were but normal humans , they had no combat experience , and fell one after other by the paws and jaws of the flame lions , as rivers of blood started to flow on the temple lawn. The fire god agni’s statue bearing witness to the massacre. However the protective instinct of the women was strong , as every single one of them protected the young prince’s as if they were their own children rather than choosing to flee.

The scene of the people that loved and took care of Ronan from his childhood bleeding profusely before his eyes , as they were eaten alive horrified him to the extreme , as the survival instinct imprinted into the human DNA kicked in , and the fear of mortality struck the young one.

When even the last maid that was protecting the two prince’s was pounced on by two lions , Ronan knew he was done for , as he stumbled back towards the temple wall.

Percy was also a little child , although he had already drawn his small sword against the lions , his hands and legs were quaking as he looked more gullible than a real threat.

Percy wanted to run , he desperately wanted to get out of this situation , however looking behind him , he saw the terrified Ronan , as the words from his grandfather kept ringing in his mind.

‘ This is your younger brother , you must always protect him ! ‘

‘ Promise me , you will always protect Ronan ‘

Words from his parents , words from his grandparents , did not allow Percy to leave the little Ronan behind , as even at 5 years of age , he loved Ronan more than he loved his own life , as he would die before letting anyone leave a scratch on his little brother.

Finding his strength in his mission to protect his younger brother , Percy charged at the single lion who was circling towards Ronan.

The lion was shocked to see the puny human attack , however Percy was no ordinary child . At level 12 , he did have enough power to penetrate the lion’s defense with a sword , as he was able to slash just a little of the flame lions legs , luckily cutting a vein and rendering it useless.

The flame lion lost the power to stand on one leg and started to hobble , as it tried to violently bite the head off Percy.

However the nimble prince had already drifted to safety. Causing the lion to howl in frustration , which diverted the attention of the other two lions from eating the maid alive , towards the young prince.

The first prince was undoubtedly a genius , someone who could even rival a berserk level 15 flame lion at level12 , however he was no match for 3 of them. Especially not when one of them diverted his attention to Ronan.

Ronan was not yet proficient in fighting against beasts , and could only conjure a weak lightning strike at the heat of the moment. However even that was a feat worth praising , as the electric shock paralyzed the lion , giving Ronan a bit more time to run away.

But the spell that Ronan conjured could only keep the beast down for soo long , as after 3-4 seconds the lion sprinted towards his prey pinning it down.

Terrified , Ronan balled up into a small crevice inside the wall , and shouted for his mother to come save him. Closing his eyes he awaited the dreaded impact of the paw but to his surprise , only a single nail was able to hit him on his forehead slightly before the sound of a sword cutting through bone could be heard.

As Ronan holed himself up in a small crack in the temple wall , Percy valiantly guarded that small hole with not letting any lion get past him to lay a single paw on his brother.

His eyes already turning red , he had awakened the phoenix in his blood as fire responded to his emotions , with flames appearing randomly all over his body.

Something snapped inside Percy when he saw that the lion was about to hit his younger brother , as power he never knew was inside him bursted out!

What followed was 5 minutes of Brutal battle , as Percy went blow for blow against the lions slowly starting to bleed from every part of his body , yet refusing to fall!

The shocking part was that the lions were not faring any better , as every one of them looked worse than the other. As the smell of burnt flesh could be clearly distinguished in the air , as the very sword that Percy attacked with was on fire as if responding to his strong emotions.

Ronan cried and cried as he saw his brothers back as he defended Ronan with his life against the lions , untill finally the bloodloss rendered Percy useless , with his sword dropping out of his grip.

Even then refusing to let any harm fall before Ronan , Percy sat down covering the hole in the wall with his small frame . Preventing any lions from reaching his brother , as he prepared himself to die at the jaws of the beast.

” Be Brave Ronan , The Draco’s don’t cry ! “. Percy said weakly , as he blacked out.

Everything was a blur after than for Ronan , who could only remember his vision turning golden .