Chapter 29: A Failed Family Reconciliation

"Now, let’s begin—"

BANG!

Gavian skidded backward before he could finish. The ward he had thrown up at the last minute shattered under an impossibly fast radiant spear.

I was playing dirty, yes, but Gavian was still several ranks above me. And he knew it better than anyone.

"Smart."

He swiped a hand through the air, opening a volley of portals above him. Yuria, meanwhile, only watched from the side, arms crossed.

My first display of magical ability did not seem to affect her. Gavian, too, seemed surprised by her lack of reaction.

FWOOSH!

The portals opened wide, and from them came a volley of tiny needles that flew toward where I stood.

But I didn’t move. For either of us, it wasn’t really an option.

Two mages. A huge, but still limited, arena. There really wasn’t room to maneuver. The only way to win was with a better ward and stronger destructive capability.

And even with how physically strong we both were, dodging beams of light was still far out of the equation.

"Radiant Aegis."

I blocked Gavian’s barrage with my ward, redirecting each needle back at him, only for him to counter with his own Radiant Aegis.

Honestly, we were surprisingly evenly matched.

Gavian’s counter-barrier flared to life, a mirror of my own Radiant Aegis. The redirected needles splintered against it, showering the training room floor with motes of dissipating light.

Neither of us had gained ground, but neither had lost any either.

"Not bad."

Gavian admitted, though his stance hadn’t relaxed.

"But you’re still thinking like a student."

He snapped his fingers. The shattered remnants of his spells didn’t fade. They coalesced, droplets of light pooling together and reforming into a single, larger aperture directly above my head.

I threw myself to the side just as a concentrated beam slammed into the spot I’d been standing. The impact cratered the reinforced floor, spiderweb cracks radiating outward.

"Light magic isn’t just barriers and spears."

Gavian said, already forming another portal.

"It’s control. Precision. Every wasted photon is wasted mana. And you’re still wasting plenty."

Does he really need to point out something that obvious? Guess even a skilled mage like him didn’t realize I was holding back just to look flashy.

Either that, or he just wanted to act like an annoying tutor for the fun of it.

If he wanted me to take this more seriously, then fine.

I would.

I clenched my fist, and chains erupted around Gavian’s wrist, slipping through his ward through the sheer force of my mana reserves, amplified by the Fey Core.

"Now, let’s see you—"

The moment I was finally going all out, Yuria had something else to say.

"I’ve seen enough."

She turned and left the room, her mood clearly worse than before. Her departure distracted both of us, and our spells dissipated as the duel fell apart.

"Yuria, what are you—?"

Gavian began, but she cut him off.

"Brother, I respect you. But if you want me to like Reyn because of your Brimstone-first mindset, then this isn’t working."

She walked away, and Gavian reached out as if to stop her, only to halt and clench his fist instead.

"It seems I miscalculated," he said.

He approached me and patted my shoulder, a surprisingly brotherly gesture that caught even me off guard.

"Let’s cut this duel short. But I have to say, that chain stunt you pulled was impressive."

He turned and left.

Looking back, after seeing Yuria’s expression, I can’t blame her for walking out. What Gavian had effectively done was remind her that I had wasted my talent for years, only to suddenly start using it again.

And prove to her how genetically gifted I was compared to her.

For someone like her, someone who could have used and taken my abilities from day one, that only made her bitterness worse.

Still, I can’t blame Gavian either. It had seemed like a solid plan.

"Reyn, so here you are!"

Anna arrived just as Gavian and Yuria were leaving, her gaze flicking toward them with mild curiosity and concern.

"What’s going on with them?"

"Family drama. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it myself."

"I see..."

Well, that killed the mood. Guess I’ll change the topic.

"So, what did you and Father talk about?"

Anna’s face lit up at my question, her earlier concern about Gavian and Yuria evaporating in an instant.

"Oh, you have no idea how well it went, Reyn!"

She grabbed both my hands, her pink eyes practically sparkling with triumph.

"Your father was... surprisingly reasonable. He asked about my intentions, about how we met, about whether I understood what I was getting into by associating with someone with your reputation."

"And what did you tell him?"

"The truth, obviously."

She released my hands and began pacing, too energized to stand still.

"I told him about finding you in the forest. About how you admitted your mistakes right there in the hospital bed instead of making excuses, and about all the hard work you did in the academy."

She spun back to face me, her expression softening.

"He asked if I trusted you as well. And I said I trusted you more than anyone else I’ve ever met."

"And then?"

"And then..."

A faint blush crept across her cheeks.

"I told him I planned to marry you."

I stared at her. She stared back, utterly unrepentant.

"Brave."

"Of course! I already told your brother the same thing. Why would your father be any different?"

Well, I could list out a bunch of things. But they really didn’t matter in this scenario anymore. She had already jumped the gun to the point that whatever information I told her would be useless.

"So, what did he say?"

"He didn’t disapprove. He just... listened. For a long time. Then he said something I wasn’t expecting."

She paused, and I realized she was building up to a reveal she was particularly proud of. She’s definitely one for dramatics.

A woman after my own heart. Literally.

"What did he say?"