Chapter Seventy-Five: Superior in Every Way

"So, it's all over for us?" Magna stated. A few minutes had passed following his team's defeat as he sank to his knees, the weight of the situation finally sinking in.

"Seems like it," Sol sat down next to him. "But it isn't over, there's still a chance to become a Royal Knight, we did make it to the second round, after all, so we have a better chance than the other teams,"

"Yeah," he sulked, still bummed out.

The earth mage eyed him, as weird as it was for her, she had started to grow attached to her shade-wielding teammate, and seeing him in distress made her feel bad, so she decided to say something the past her would consider blasphemy.

"Wanna hug?"

That managed to capture Magna's attention as he looked at her strangely. "What?"

"Hugs make everyone feel better, and you look like you could use one," she extended her arms to him. "You should feel honored though, the only other guy I've done this with is my dad,"

The flame mage gave her offer some thought, but as he did, something came to mind, and it made his face go slightly red. "You sure you don't mind?"

Sol raised a brow. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm the one offering," she then noticed he was stealing glances at something, as she traced where he was looking, her gaze fell on her rack, it didn't take long for the woman to put two and two together.

Her cheeks took on a minor shade of pink as she turned her head away. "Hey, take it or leave it, buster,"

The bull didn't need any more prodding as he hugged her and she hugged him back, his features changing into a melancholic smile. "Thanks, Sol, you were right, I did need one,"

"Don't mention it,"

The two broke up their embrace as they stood up, a grin forming on the earth mage's face. "I must say though, I never took you for a pervert,"

Magna looked away embarrassingly. "Shut up! I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't make you uncomfortable in case you weren't thinking about it,"

She slung her arm around him and noogied his hair. "Aw, don't feel bad about it, you're a man, it's natural. And if it makes you feel better, I can be quite the pervert too whenever I see Char's rocking body,"

Magna was about to give a rebuttal, but he was caught off guard by the sound of taunting laughter coming from behind him.

Said laughter, oddly enough, was coming from Mimosa of all people. "Oh, look at me, I'm so beautiful and gorgeous, surrounded by ugliness wherever I go, but somehow, I still get defeated in such a humiliating manner!" she mocked her brother, imitating his voice while mockingly striking his poses. She then burst into laughter. "I wish I was there to see you fall into that pit, I bet it was hilarious!"

Kirsch, of course, was not laughing. "When she said she'd gloat later, I didn't expect it to be so soon after our talk," he mumbled, arms crossed and head lowered in shame. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Dear brother, what gave it away?" she asked sarcastically.

Asta and Xerx stood together as they watched the plant mage continue her celebratory taunts. "I never knew Mimosa could be so…ruthless," the former spoke up.

"If that guy was my brother, I'd be laughing in his face too. Among everyone here at this exam, I think ginger is shaping up to be my favorite," the ash mage replied.

The swordsman looked his way. "Do you have brothers or sisters?" he genuinely asked.

"Whether I do or not is none of your business,"

Asta turned away. "Right, my bad. It's just that, Kirsch may be pretty annoying at times, but I sorta envy him and Mimosa. I never got to know my actual family, I was left as a baby at an orphanage where I was raised, and I also never got to know why I was left there, maybe my parents were poor, maybe they were desperate, or maybe…maybe they didn't want some magicless nobody around them,"

Xerx was glancing at the shorter boy, noticing his clenched fists, but they released as Asta sighed. "Regardless, I found a new group to love like a family, the people at the orphanage, and I've done it again with the Black Bulls. But still, it wouldn't hurt to at least know what it was like to have a bond with a real family member,"

His words got the ash mage thinking. "So, he's got no magic, he's a peasant, and he never got to know his family? Damn, it's like the universe itself is trying to screw him over, the fact that he acts the way he does despite all of the crap he probably had to face is…pretty endearing. You're still a bratty little shit, but I suppose you have a bit of my respect,"

"Both teams, please vacate the battlefield!" the announcement came from the capital mage.

"Seems like we better get moving," Magna said as he and Sol walked over to them.

"Worry not, I'll fly us to the platform," Kirsch volunteered. "The last thing I need right now is more time for Mimosa to gloat," he lifted them up in a wind of petals and brought them to the platform.

Once they landed, they walked to their group, but were stopped by a sole cheer.

And it came from the king. "Xerx! Great work out there, keep it up!"

"Uh, thanks your majesty, glad you think so," he replied the same way he did last time.

Everyone then met up with their groups. "Good work as usual, Mimosa, Asta," Yuno congratulated.

"Thanks," they said back.

"Are you alright, vice-captain?" Alice asked.

Kirsch struck a lackluster pose. "My pride has suffered a sizable wound, but I'll be fine. I just have some reevaluating to do,"

The wind mage raised her brow. "Reevaluate what?"

"I'll tell you about it later,"

Sol scanned the group, looking for a squadmate, but no azure-clad knight was present. "Puli must've left,"

But her support came in the form of another person. "Hey,"

Sol turned and saw Noelle. "Hey,"

"You were pretty impressive out there. From what I saw, you contributed the most to your team," the water mage told her.

"Someone has to do it, might as well be me," the earth mage grinned back.

The last person of focus was Magna, who was confronted by a majority of his squad. "Don't beat yourself over this loss, your strategy was good, not to mention your new spell put the pressure on Asta," Vanessa said.

"What she said, you made us proud," Kenos added.

"Guys, I appreciate what you're doing, but I already feel better," Magna gave a light smirk, but the smirk faded as he noticed one Bull further away from him than the others.

Luck, with Letoile standing next to him. The rivals locked eyes for just a few seconds before the lightning mage turned and walked away.

Letoile was about to go after him before Magna intervened. "Hold on. I'll go talk to him,"

The flame mage quickened his pace past everyone and in the direction Luck had gone. They were on an open platform, and as such, finding someone is easy, and that's what happened, Magna found who he was looking for, in a spot with fewer people.

The flame mage took a deep breath, and was about to say something, but he was beaten to the punch. "You said you'd win,"

Those were the words that exited Luck's mouth, there was no playfulness to his remark as there usually was, instead, it was serious.

Magna's face showed some shame as he scratched the back of his head. "I thought I was going to win too, but you know Rasta, always bringing an upset," he chuckled nervously.

"I…I wanted to fight you too," Luck turned to face his squadmate, his expression matching the tone of his voice. "I wanted to fight you in the finals. In our whole squad, you're the one I respect the most, the first real person I could call my friend, and my rival,"

He then walked to him until they were inches apart.

"I'm sorry," was all Magna could say back.

The lightning mage's face went back to normal cheerful look as he bumped his rival's chest with his fist. "It's cool. When I fight during my match, I'll win for both of us. Deal?"

"Deal,"

The capital mage made his next announcement. "The second battle of the round will soon commence. Both teams, report!"

The bulls that were present all turned to Finral. "Are you ready for this?" Vanessa asked him.

"Ready to face off against my brother? Don't worry, I'll be fine, I've been worrying about him for too long, I promised that I wouldn't let him get to me anymore, and I'll prove it once and for all by winning," he answered.

Asta went over to him and put up a fist. "Of course you'll win, I'm already getting pumped to face your team during the semi-finals,"

A smile came to the spatial mage's face as they fist-bumped. "I'm looking forward to it," he then started walking away.

"Wait up for me!" Hamon rushed to his side.

"Me too," Leo was about to join his teammates before a voice stopped him.

"Hold on," the flame mage turned around. "Yeah, Rama?"

"You beat me, so you better succeed," his rival said.

Leo grinned. "That's right, I'm going to keep winning and become a Royal Knight for the both of us," he gave him a thumbs up and went over to the two.

"We had better get moving too. C'mon, Sekke!" Fragil called as she too was on the move.

The bronze mage sprinted her way. "Right behind you,"

"Good luck," support came from both their squadmates.

The five knights soon were standing before the capital mage, the match was almost ready to start, but one crucial member was missing.

And Sekke wasn't afraid to voice that out. "Is this deja vu or something? We're waiting for him again,"

"Not for long this time, I assume," a voice quipped in response, said voice belonging to Langris as he walked to his team, standing with them. "Let's have a good fight," he sent a mischievous grin towards the other team, but mainly at his half-brother who merely narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, let's,"

"The second match of the second round will soon be underway, participating is Team G's Langris, Sekke, and Fragil, against Team E's Finral, Hamon, and Leopold!" the announcement rang out as both teams went down the platform.

The bronze mage pumped his fist into the air. "I hope you two are ready to score another win. I for one am pretty pumped to show you what I can really do,"

"Awesome, can't wait to see it," Fragil politely stated. "So, Langris, do you have any plans of action for us? Or do you mind if one of us takes the lead?"

The golden dawn heard her question, but withheld an answer, opting to glare at Finral instead, who was chatting with his teammates. But then something happened that partially surprised him, and that's that upon sharing a laugh with Leo, Finral gave the vice-captain a side glare, maintaining it for a few seconds before looking ahead again.

Langris too shifted his gaze forward and sucked his teeth. "Hey, Langris!" his attention was brought back to his own team as the snow mage called him.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear what I said?" she asked back.

He gave her a look, and then gave one more quick glance to his competition before he gave a response.

"I did, and there's something I want you two to do for me if you don't mind,"


Five minutes passed and the two teams stepped foot on the battlefield, like some other teams, they chose to not put too much distance between them, the space separating only being about 30 meters. The faces of all the knights were that of seriousness, but none looked more serious than the two brothers as they stood at the center of their respective groups.

"We're ready," they said in unison.

The capital mage took that as his cue. "Both teams are in position! Ready! Begin!"

Leo had already pulled his grimoire out and flipped to a page. "We won't any time! Flame Creation Magic: Inferno-,"

"Stop right there," Langris put a hand up, cutting off his declaration, he and Fragil then exchanged a glance as the snow mage started running north, Team G's crystal following her.

"What gives?" Hamon wondered aloud.

"Allow me to explain. Hamon, Leopold, I have something to request of you," Langris spoke, his tone oddly confident.

"And that is?" the flame mage was the one to ask.

"Finral and I have a bit of…rivalry going on between us, if you could call it that, and I'd like to settle it here. So, I was wondering if you two would be so kind as to let us face off 1 on 1?" he explained.

"Are you out of your mind?!" the glass mage protested.

The crimson-clad royal joined in, pointing at the spatial mage. "Yeah, I can respect a face-off between rivals, but this is the second round, and a lot is riding on who will win. While Finral is awesome, he doesn't have the offensive power to fight you alone, so the answer is-,"

"I'll do it,"

Leo and Hamon's eyes widened in disbelief as Finral had given his answer. "Think this over, doing this will put us at a disadvantage," the former tried to persuade him.

"Not exactly, it's a double-edged sword for them. Langris is their best mage, and by agreeing to this, we keep him away from their team's crystal, and you two are much stronger offensive-wise than his teammates if our match in the first round says anything. This is actually the best thing that could've happened to us," he countered.

Leo stopped and took time to ponder his reasoning, seeing that he had a point, but another worry plagued him. "There may be logic in that, but will you be okay?"

In response to that, Finral gave them a confident smile. "I'm going to be just fine, I still have some tricks under my sleeve,"

"Alright then, if you have that much faith in yourself, then we'll have the same amount, do your best," Leo said.

"We're putting our crystal in your hands," Hamon added.

"Thanks for this, you guys, I won't let you down," Finral told them as he made a portal for them to enter.

Atop the platform, talk had erupted as the prior exchange was heard by everyone.

"He's agreed to a one-on-one," Kenos voiced. "His reason raises a good point, but I hope whatever he has planned can deal with that crazy offensive spatial magic,"

"Have some faith in him, Finral can win this," Asta reassured him.

Charmy heard the swordsman's statement and nodded. "He better win this, after hearing what that prick said about him in Kiten, I can't think of a better way to get back at him than to whoop his ass!"

Finral had locked on the crystal to his mana signature and prepared for the battle to come, but it didn't take long to notice the elephant in the room.

"Why is he here?"

Langris eyed Sekke, who hadn't followed Fragil, but instead stood beside him. "He's here merely to provide an equalization in mobility. While your power is insignificant in comparison to my own, I can't deny those portals you make give you quite the edge in terms of travel speed. You don't mind, do you?"

"It's fine, as long as he doesn't engage in combat, I don't mind," he replied.

Sekke gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks for understanding. Bronze Creation Magic: Sekke's Shooting Star!" he created his motorcycle as Langris stood atop it.

"Onward!" he commanded as they both zoomed toward the Black Bull.

Finral wasn't worried at all as he formed a portal directly under him, falling into it and reappearing a good number of yards to the east. The two members of Team G said nothing as Sekke merely turned his cycle in the new direction their target was.

But the spatial only repeated his action again, this time making a portal behind him which he backed into, appearing some yards down south.

Some frustration had started to form on Sekke's face as he zoomed down south. This time, Langris decided to say something. "I ask for a face-off, and all you do is run away, can't say I'm surprised, just disappointed, I expected more, given your new boost of confidence and all," he taunted.

"I can assure you, avoiding you isn't the only thing I can do," he fired back. "Tell you what, I'll give you one free shot, I won't teleport away,"

"You're going to regret that, Sekke, circle him," Langris told his teammate as the emerald-clad knight drove around him. "I don't know what he has planned, but I shouldn't let my attack be predictable,"

The driving continued until the vice-captain found himself facing Finral's back. "Now!" he swiped the ground with an uppercut motion, his attack carving the ground as it raced towards the crystal, moving at such a speed that the fact it was carving the ground wouldn't change the simple truth that Finral couldn't stop it.

Or so he thought.

Not only had Finral managed to notice the attack coming before it reached its target, but as he put a hand up towards it, the attack was stopped in its tracks.

"What?" both Sekke and Langris expressed surprise as they stopped moving.

"How the hell did he do that? I didn't think your attacks could be neutralized like that," the former said aloud.

"Yes, there is a way to stop it, just one,"

"Holy crap, how did Finral just do that," Asta gave a similar remark as the bronze mage.

The solar mage scratched his head in confusion. "Yeah, I'm the one who usually explains stuff, and even I'm stumped by this,"

Luckily for them both, someone had the answer to their question. "Finral used Spatial Cancellation,"

The two five-leaf holders turned to see Kuro. "Spatial what?"

"Spatial Cancellation," the silver eagle repeated. "When spatial magic between different mages clash, they cancel each other out. Spatial Magic, in whatever application is used, is the manipulation of the concept of space itself, and the same set of space can't be manipulated in two different ways at once, so when it happens, well…nothing happens,"

"That does make sense, Finral's application of it is to make portals, but when he did what he did, no portal formed," Kenos began.

"Because clashing with Langris' attack caused it to not happen," Asta finished.

Kuro nodded. "Exactly,"

"Not gonna lie, that sounds totally awesome," Ryusei commented.

Kenos chuckled. "Ryu, you say that like you could lie,"

Back on the battlefield, Langris had crossed his arms. "I must say, Finral, I wasn't aware you knew about Spatial Cancellation, I never remembered father telling you about it,"

"That's because I learned it on my own," he answered.

Langris sneered. "Did you now?"

"I did, and that's not everything I've got, so bring it on!"


"You can't escape!"

While the battle between the brothers went on, Leo and Hamon chased Fragil down.

"You say that, but you haven't caught me yet," the snow mage retorted.

A grin came to Leo's face. "I won't have to. Flame Creation Magic: Inferno Lion!" he summoned the trusty fiery beast and ordered it to charge.

Fragil stopped and turned around. "Snow Magic: Sleet Shoot!" she exclaimed, firing the balls of snow, but as they made contact with their target, they melted.

"Shit," the aqua deer silently cursed. "Snow Creation Magic: Igloo Shelter!" she formed a barrier of hardened snow, and as the lion crashed into it, steam covered the area.

"That spell most likely protected her, but she may try to give us the slip in the steam," Leo deduced. "Hamon, got any spells to help?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," his grimoire flipped to a different page. "Glass Magic: Verre Détection!" he declared as panes of glass appeared in the air and one right in front of him.

"Okay, she's heading into a cave," he revealed as the steam died down, allowing them to proceed, finding the cave with relative ease. After all, there was only one.

"Can't say I applaud your choice of a hiding place," the royal said as the two males walked inside, immediately noticing the sound their steps made, so they looked down, and saw the floor was covered in snow, in fact, snow was falling too. "What's this, Trapping Snow Garden?"

"No, a reinforcement spell, I don't have any intention of hiding," she replied adamantly.

"You're really serious about this? You plan to fight us? If so, then I won't hold back," Leo clenched his fist. "Flame Magic: Mana Skin!"

Hamon watched him. "You're going to transform again?"

"Bingo, Flame Creation Magic: Leo Battleheart!" he cried out as flames encircled him.

Worry came to Fragil's face. "Damn it, that transformation of his is no joke, I may need to find a new way to protect the crystal,"

Her worry though, would soon disperse. The flames continued to surround Leo, about to solidify into the individual parts of his powerful form, but suddenly…a sharp pain passed through him, forcing him to his knees, the flames along with the Mana Skin dissipating, his breath turning erratic.

Hamon knelt at his side, surprised by the turn of events. "What happened?"

"It's Leo Battleheart, I…I can't access it," he replied. "It seems I overexerted most of my mana from the fight with Rama, I may not be able to transform right now. To be fair though, I did just develop the spell, only actually transformed with it three times in total since making it, and one of them was today,"

"That is unfortunate, but luckily, not all is lost, we can…still…win," Hamon encouraged him, but the glass mage's words oddly started to slur around the last part, and his eyelids began to droop.

"Um, you okay? I wouldn't really call it the time to feel fatigued,"

"It's not his fault, the one responsible would be me," Fragil spoke up.

Leo pointed at her. "What do you mean?"

"See this snow?" she pointed up, then down. "I said it was a reinforcement spell, well, that was a lie, what the two of you are standing in is my Snow Magic: Phantom Snow Garden! Anyone that isn't an ally who stands within its confines slowly begins to lose consciousness,"

"So that's what it does?" Hamon groggily stated as he reeled his hand back and slapped himself violently in the face, jolting awake. "It doesn't matter, we aren't going to surrender,"

The flame mage didn't feel the fatigue kick in, but that didn't stop him from slapping his own face as well. "He's right, it was Finral's determination and courage that gave us this shot at victory, we won't dishonor it by falling victim to such a spell!"

The two commanded their grimoires to flip to different pages, ready to launch an attack, but Fragil was ready. "Snow Creation Magic: Igloo Shelter!" she protected herself and her crystal.

"Glass Magic: Verre Shards!"

"Flame Magic: Spiral Flame!"

The two spells assaulted the shelter with force. "We're going to win this!"


The three mages in the cave weren't the only ones locked in a stalemate, no matter what kind of attack Langris tried, and no matter what direction he fired it from, Finral was able to stop it.

The black bull had begun to grow a little cocky. "So, Langris, I take it you're not disappointed anymore?"

The golden dawn had started to grit his teeth, to say he was frustrated would be an understatement. "Man, that guy's pretty good, all those attacks and he hasn't let a single one go past him," he heard Sekke remark.

On the platform, the rest of the older spatial mage's squadmates said the same. "You're holding up great, Finral!" Gauche cheered.

"Yup, just keep him back until Leo and Hamon can destroy the crystal!" Kenos joined in.

"That prick has got nothing on you!" Charmy added.

Finral couldn't help but smile at his squad's support. "Thanks, everyone, I won't let you down," he formed a portal below him, falling into it and appearing a little closer to his two opponents.

Langris narrowed his eyes. "I'd advise you to not get too cocky, half-brother, you may have managed to stop what I've sent, but that doesn't mean you can beat me,"

"I wouldn't say that," Finral gave a comeback. "Using Spatial Cancellation, that was only one trick I had under my sleeve, there's another one I have," his grimoire only flipped one page over as stretched his hands out.

"Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Wingbeat!" he declared as a green orb formed in between them.

"He made a new spell? He never told me," Vanessa expressed some surprise.

"Me neither, I guess he was saving it for the exam if he got in," Magna assumed.

"You have a new spell, big deal, if it's coming from you, it can't be that impressive," Langris scoffed.

"Don't underestimate it," Finral said back as he sent the spell forward, the orb moving at a moderate speed…if it was racing a toddler that is.

For the first time that day, Langris burst into laughter, he had to be careful as to not fall off Sekke's motorcycle. "Don't underestimate it, you say?! That's going to be so hard to do, that speed is pitiful!"

"Hey, do you want me to take care of it?" Sekke asked.

"You sure? We agreed that you would enter combat," his teammate reminded him.

"Blocking a simple attack isn't entering combat, actually fighting would be,"

Langris accepted his reasoning and hopped down. "Alright then, go ahead, besides, if we stand here, it'll take forever to reach us,"

With that, Sekke sped off toward the orb. "Bronze Creation Magic: Sekke Magnum Cannonball!" both he and his set of wheels were sheltered inside a transparent turquoise construct.

The grin that had formed on Langris' face couldn't grow wider. "I should've expected this, Finral has always been nothing more than a joke, a pathetic excuse just like his spell. Sekke will handle it, and-,"

His mind didn't utter another word, as Sekke and the orb finally met, the bronze mage suddenly disappeared in a glow of green, his grin fell immediately and it was replaced by a stare of disbelief. "W-What?"

"I told you not to underestimate it," Finral said. "Fallen Angel's Wingbeat transports whoever or whatever it makes contact with to a place of my choosing. I admit the speed could use some work, but it's the way I've chosen to fight,"

"It teleports whoever it makes contact with, sending them away from the battlefield without hurting them? A spell that can only belong to one with a kind soul," Julius mused. "I wonder where that young man was teleported though?"

Where did he end up? It was a place that made him wish he did get hit with something dangerous from the spatial mage.

For what was more deadly than being face-to-face with Yami during his toilet time?

"Uh…uh," Sekke could only mutter in fear.

An aura of intimidation encased the dark mage. "My shit, it went back in. Look, I don't know how you got here, or even why you're, but one thing is as clear as day to me…you must value your life really little,"

While Sekke was getting tortured, Finral clenched his fists in pride. "Whether it was because of compassion or cowardice, I could never bring myself to hurt someone, now I don't have to!"

Langris was clenching his fists too, but it wasn't out of pride, nothing of the sort. "Why is this happening? From the moment this fight started, I haven't once taken the advantage, he's bested me twice now. Him of all people, why him? It shouldn't be this way! Not like it was back then!" he yelled in his mind as a memory flashed through his head.

[Flashback]

Vaude Household. Some Years Ago.

"Boys, come here, there's someone for you to meet!" a male voice called out as a young Finral and Langris called back.

"Coming, father!" the two boys came out of their rooms and walked over to their parents, and in between them was a person that caught their attention.

It was a tall, beautiful woman with shoulder-length black hair and purple eyes, said eyes which were brought out by the pink and white gown she wore with a red mantle draped over her. But there was something else about her: her skin was quite pale and at second glance, her body looked a bit frail.

At the sight of the woman, Langris gave a nonchalant glance, but his older half-brother provided a completely different expression as was blushing.

Their father motioned a hand to introduce her. "Boys, this is Finnes Calmreich, a relative of King Augustus Kira Clover XIII. Introduce yourselves,"

The younger brother perked up at the mention of the king, but it was for a short second as his nonchalant look returned. "Greetings, I'm Langris,"

"H-Hello, it's really nice to meet you, I'm Finral," the older brother introduced himself nervously.

Finnes giggled at that. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," her giggles soon turned into a fit of coughs. "My apologies,"

"It's no problem," their father told her. "I suppose you're wondering why a relative of the king is here, the thing is, his Majesty has found favor with our family, so he's arranged a marriage between one of his relatives and the future head of the Vaude House,"

"What? That's amazing!" Finral jumped for joy as he moved towards her, twiddling with his fingers. "Um, since you'll be seeing this place more often, would you like a tour?"

"I would love one," she accepted as the two walked away.

Once they were out of earshot, Langris' mother walked to him. "Listen, my son, even though you are younger than Finral, we've chosen that you will be the next head of our family. That means you will be Finnes' husband,"

"Yes, Finral is a disgrace, I would rather die than have him succeed me," his father added. "You and Finnes are only engaged for the time being, the marriage will be once you get older. Understand?"

Langris' expression of nonchalance broke, replaced by a proud smile. "Of course,"

"Good," they walked away in another direction.

The future vice-captain repeated his parents' actions, waiting for them to get out of earshot before his face changed to one of annoyance.

"They actually expect to marry that woman? Were we looking at the same person? She's a sickly sparrow, and doesn't look like she'll last another decade. What a joke," he muttered to himself while absent-mindedly strolling around the building.

It was the sound of laughing that brought him out of his head, he quickly scanned his surroundings, finding himself about to enter the courtyard, as for the laughs, they belonged to Finral and Finnes. The boy carefully hid from sight as he spied on them.

"Now we're onto this place, this is the courtyard," Finral informed her.

"How beautiful," she whispered in awe, about to say something, but broke into coughs again.

The older brother moved to her side. "Are you okay? Please, sit down," they say at a nearby bench. "Do you need some water?"

"No, I'll be fine. To tell you the truth, I've been like this for a long time, I was born with a body frailer than most, but it's got a little bit better recently, the king has been able to get the best recovery mages to help me, I'm not completely cured though," she explained before she frowned. "I'm sorry,"

"What are you apologizing for?"

"As the head of the Vaude House, you'll be betrothed to me. I expect that you must be a little disheartened to find yourself engaged to such a sickly woman,"

Finral waved his hands in a denying manner. "You couldn't be any more wrong, I don't know a single guy that wouldn't be honored to marry a beautiful and kind woman like you," he said, but he then sadly averted his gaze. "But there's something you got wrong…I may be older than Langris, but he's the one you'll be marrying. He's so much better than me, the better mage, the better leader, I don't hold a candle to him,"

From where he hid, Langris smirked. "At least he is aware of it, better that than being in denial about it,"

The woman saw his fall in countenance, and deciding she didn't like it, she said something. "I wouldn't say that. If you ask me, you're the stronger,"

Those words caught Finral's attention as he looked at her again. "What? How…how do you know for sure?"

"Call it a feeling, but I think you're much stronger, besides, you're already kinder than he is," she told him with a wink.

That only made Finral blush harder than he had earlier, Langris on the other hand, was furious. "Finral, stronger than me? Has whatever illness the sickly sparrow is plagued with made her an idiot? He could never be better than me," he stormed off.


About two months passed since Langris was introduced to his fiance, but it hardly remained as something significant in the list of his priorities, in fact, the book he was currently reading in his room was more important to him than his engagement to the woman.

"Damn, the main villain is the hero's father? What a plot twist, I guess that's what happens when you embrace the dark side," he voiced aloud.

"Oh, what nice flowers," he heard a woman remark from outside his room.

He wanted to ignore whatever conversation could've been going on, but his curiosity got the better of him, so he walked over to his window and stared down, seeing two young women, the taller of the two still fawning over the flowers the shorter one had in her grasp.

"Thanks, they're daisies, my favorite,"

"Who got them for you?"

The short girl was quick to answer. "Finral,"

The tall girl chuckled. "I should've known, he's such a nice boy, always getting thoughtful gifts for the ladies, helping the men around town, and he's just so friendly,"

"So true, there are times I find myself baffled that he hasn't swept a lucky girl off her feet yet,"

Langris found himself becoming disinterested in their talk, turning around to sit back down, but then one of them said something that captured his attention all over again.

"I wish I could say the same thing about that brother of his," the short girl said, her tone taking a drastic change from her prior happy one.

The girl beside her sighed. "Tell me about it, he radiates so much stuck-up energy, like someone who isn't down to Earth,"

"Not to mention he can't stop looking like he's brooding all the time, a total mood killer,"

Langris was just as annoyed with the two women below as they were with him. "What do they know?" he sat back down and opened his book, not even ten seconds passed before a portal suddenly opened and Finral's head popped out.

"Hey Gris, why don't you take a break from reading and come hang out?" he invited.

"I'll pass,"

The older brother was persistent though. "C'mon, there's a festival starting soon, with tons of goodies to eat,"

"I said I'll pass,"

"Okay then, I'll save you from food then," he retreated back into his portal as it vanished.

The younger Vaude continued to read, but that didn't stop him from clenching his fist tightly the whole time.

[End Flashback]

The memory faded slowly as the younger boy's clenched fist was replaced by his older self doing the same action.

"All those people are wrong, I've always been the strongest of us, not him, I've always been the one that was loved more, not him! He's below me, between us, I'm superior in every way! And now it's about time I prove it!" he mentally yelled as a dark aura began enveloping him.

Yuno's eyes narrowed. "Did you guys feel that? There's a strange shift in Langris' mana,"

Klaus focused and felt it too. "I sense it too. It feels familiar, yet also different. Is a change like that even possible?"

Kenos heard their banter and thought to himself. "A change, aye? There is something I can do, it may not work from this distance, but I can at least try," he closed his eyes and focused hard before opening them, glad that he saw the white beads of mana.

"Awesome, it worked, now to check," he looked down at the battlefield, inspecting the mana around the brothers, the mana around Finral was green and felt tranquil, nothing out of the ordinary…but it was the mana around Langris that surprised him. Light purple orbs were the ones near the vice-captain, or at least, they used to be, as they were rapidly changing to a dark purple color.

"I didn't know the color of a person's mana could change, and the feeling has shifted too. From the remnants of the light purple orbs, I feel fierceness and cold determination, but these new orbs, they feel…twisted, almost sadistic. It's almost like I'm seeing the mana of a completely different person,"

The time mage was in thought as well. "It appears my earlier suspicion was correct, he is the one,"

"No more holding back," Langris muttered as his grimoire started flipping through pages landing on one. "Spatial Magic…," at his call, dark purple spheres began forming beside him, until they became numerous.

This worried Finral greatly. "Crap, I forgot, all this time, he's been only using his basic attribute abilities, now he's actually using a spell, and of all spells, it has to be that one," he thought as both he and Langris either thought or muttered the following words in unison.

"...Archangel Shootdown,"

The golden dawn didn't utter another as he simply swiped an arm horizontally, one of his orbs racing at super speed right at Finral. The older brother could do nothing as the orb shifted position and erased a small chunk from the edge of his crystal.

"Shit,"

"Finral, there's something I want to know," Langris spoke at last. "Back when we were younger, you were well aware of how much the family looked down on you, mother belittled you, father belittled, but I did it most of all, regardless, you were always so nice to me. Why?"

"Why?" the black bull gave his answer some thought before voicing. "Even though we aren't fully related, even though you say bad things about me, and even though I sometimes desperately want to see you get what's coming to you one of these days, you're still my brother, and even though it's not as much as I hoped it'd be, I still love you,"

"You…love me?" Langris muttered as the dark aura around him intensified. "The feeling isn't mutual! I hate you, with every fiber of my being, I HATE YOU!" he launched all of his orbs at once.

"Then I'll stop you!" Finral exclaimed as he formed more of his own orbs, sending them to meet his brother's spell, and the two collided in a grand-scale clash, resulting in a blinding light and a question asked by the entire audience.

Who won?

They soon got their answer as the light faded, and a terrible sight replaced it.

A completely decimated crystal, and a bloody, unconscious Finral, gravely injured, whole chunks of his body erased.

Xerx covered his mouth with a hand. "Brutal,"

The capital mage shared his sentiment as he was at a loss for words for a few seconds. "T-Team G wins!"

Despite hearing the declaration of victory, Langris wasn't satisfied as he started walking to Finral, a hand outstretched, erasing the ground below.

"What the hell is he doing? The battle is finished and his opponent is unconscious," Rama said, a little bit unsettled.

"See, brother, I really am the better one, I always have been. But this isn't over yet, I need to make sure you can never rise up to challenge me again, and for that to happen, you must disappear,"

Asta widened his eyes at his statement, turning to his short friend. "He's going to kill him! Charmy, slingshot!"

Langris had finally reached him, he slowly raised his hand, ready to descend it and end his brother's life. "Now, die!"

He didn't make another movement, for in what seemed like a split second, he was surrounded. Magna and Luck were at his sides, Kenos was behind him, and Asta was in front, all four were armed…and angry.

"Go on, take another step," Magna coldly threatened.

"But know that the second you do, you're dead," Luck joined.

"And we'll make sure you suffer at every point of it," Kenos finished.

"Finral!" Noelle ran to him and inspected his wounds. "These look really bad,"

The other black bulls were standing by too, their strongest spells prepared, all looking for blood.

"You crossed a dangerous line, pretty boy," the threat came from Vanessa.

Charmy came next. "I knew I didn't like you, but now you went too far,"

Gauche followed. "I'm going to enjoy pounding you,"

"How could you do such a thing," Grey added.

Gordon said nothing, merely cracking his knuckles as his badgers growled ravenously.

Asta was the last one to make a remark. "Is something the matter with you? The match was already over! We won't let you get away with this!"