15 Sibling Spar

The world around Arthur turned monochromatic, motes of green, red, brown, and blue swarmed in his vision. The purple motes hung silently in the air, as if judging him.

His eyes drew to his adversary, and his shock multiplied. Disbelief flashed across his face as he noticed how mana and aether collided in something akin to nuclear fusion, creating the black particle Fayden had named Nacht. Yet, it wasn't completely dark, as a stray mote of Nacht passed by Arthur's head, he noticed the numerous white dots in it. Stars wove into constellations, some he recognized some he didn't. It was as if each particle of nacht held an entire universe within it.

He felt the mana move before he saw it, his body moving reflexively as the ground he was on an instant just before had been reduced to a red hot puddle.

He cursed under his breath; of course Fayden had gotten stronger as Arthur entered Dragon's Awakening.

"I won't lie, the white hair suits you."

Arthur swiveled around, black-colored lightning leaving his fingers as they withered everything in their path.

"Can't say I like the eyes though, those eyes belong on a predator, not a prey."

This time the voice came from right beside him, and Arthur roared, sonic waves pulsing from his mouth, eviscerating everything in its path.

His shadow darkened for but an instant, a blur of a silhouette zooming out of it. A burning sensation filled his back as warm blood trickled down his already ruined clothes.

Arthur grit his teeth, commanding the brown motes to follow his will. A startled Fayden slammed to the ground as gravity increased a thousand fold. Arthur gave him no time to recover, in an instant he was above him with Dawn's Ballad held high roaring with the full power of a thunderstorm.

Mana flashed across Fayden's body, reinforcing it as much as he could before Arthur's blade made contact with his side.

A silent scream tore itself from his throat as he felt the wind rip his flesh to shreds as the thunder electrocuted his whole frame.

Reeling his fist back, Arthur prepared a second blow, a gauntlet of pure ice materialized over his hand a rigid brown glow settled over it, gravity magic making his fist heavier than it had any right to be.

Fayden's runes pulsed right as Arthur's fist descended, and moments before the spiked gauntlet could smash him into a pulp, the weight under Arthur disappeared and his fist struck the earth, shattering it to countless fragments.

Fayden stumbled as he reappeared a few yards away, struggling to retain his balance. As Tartarean Vitality began burning through his wound, he noticed it was slower than usual.

Arthur wouldn't give him the chance to heal, crossing the distance between them he charged a thunder spell with his free hand.

Fayden went on the defensive, Void Stepping every second, dodging Arthur's blows near effortlessly, wincing ever so often.

"Damn, you're desperate-" Fayden narrowly evaded another lightning spell, "-to beat me."

"What can I say," Arthur grinned, "you're just that strong."

Fayden chuckled as the final vestiges of his wound healed. "True, maybe I should get a bit more serious."

A chill ran down Arthur's spine, something cold touched the side of his neck.

"Dead."

Arthur jerked away, turning to face the older boy, but there was no one there.

A palm touched his back, right behind his core, "Dead again."

Inhaling sharply Arthur prepared for the third gesture, but it never came.

A shadow fell over him, and as he looked up his heart skipped a beat, all he saw was a swirling orb of Nacht and Fayden's silhouette.

"And that's strike three."

A massive explosion rocked the training area, uprooting dozens of trees and shattering stone. Arthur's battered form flew out of the dust cloud, showing no signs of stopping as his back slammed to the 'wall' of the area.

He groaned, falling unceremoniously to the ground as he vaguely heard his bond yell out his name.

He thought he felt something warm settle over him before sinking into the domain of Morpheus.

.

.

.

Arthur expected to be in the infirmary when he woke up, only to find he remained in the training facility. It took him a moment to realize his body didn't ache anymore.

Standing up to a start, the first thing he noticed was the ruined room. What used to be a beautiful habitat was now a wasteland, the green grass that carpeted the floor had been burnt, frozen, smashed and ripped to shreds. The trees and rocks had nearly disintegrated, the waterfall was the only part that remained relatively unharmed.

"We really did a number on this place." Fayden's voice appeared from his side.

Arthur jumped, not having noticed him get so close. "Stop doing that!"

"I didn't even do anything this time, you were just out of it." Fayden deadpanned.

Arthur shook his head, "How long was I out?"

"Eh, fifteen minutes, give or take."

Arthurs eyebrows rose in surprise, "I expected to be out for days."

Fayden smirked, swirling an ember of Tartarean Vitality across his fingers.

"Are you a deviant?"

"Nope."

"Your healing spell is way more advanced than any Emitter I've seen." Arthur commented, eyeing the greenish black flame.

"You can literally stop time, and this is what surprises you?"

"Fair."

A comfortable silence descended between them.

Only to be broken by someone entering the room.

As the twin doors slid open, two figures became clear, an elderly woman wearing a witches hat and a teenage girl with gunmetal hair.

"What happened here?" Cynthia breathed out, witnessing the destruction caused to the room.

"We duel–sparred." Fayden said bluntly, continuing after seeing her expression. "Oh come on, this is the least you can expect when a white core mage and a mid silver core mage fight."

Cynthia sighed, "I suppose that's true."

"I don't see any injuries on either of you." Tessia noted, scanning her brother and childhood friend.

"My own sister wishes I was wounded, oh the horror." Fayden fell to his knees in mock pain.

Tessia rolled her eyes, "You can try that on someone else, it won't work on me again."

Fayden chuckled, "It was worth a shot."

"So, why are you two here?" Arthur stepped forward.

"I was originally planning on having you two help Tessia assimilate but seeing the condition of the room, we'll have to delay it." Cynthia answered, looking around the room.

"Sorry about that."

Cynthia chuckled, "It's nothing to worry about, I'll have the place fixed by the end of the week."

"A week? Isn't that too fast?" Tessia spoke, sounding surprised.

"Not at all. That is ample time for a team of mages to restore the room to its former glory, although I would prefer it if you two don't keep destroying it." Cynthia glanced pointedly at the two boys.

"Of course, Director."

"I make no promises."

Cynthia sighed. It would seem she'd be meeting with the renovators very often this year.

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.

.

As their classes began Fayden quickly realized coming to Xyrus had been a waste of time, there was nothing in his courses that he didn't already know.

The only reason he attended the classes was because his friends would be in them. First class of the day was mana theory, and Fayden barely made it through awake. The second class was mana manipulation, this was slightly more interesting, seeing how some of the sixth years struggled with mid-tier spells. His own high-tier spell gained the class's attention as he effortlessly moulded violent blue thunder into a lance.

Fayden slept through the next class, his sound magic fooling the professor to believe he was awake.

When Fayden awoke in the afternoon, he was unaware of the debacle Arthur had caused so hearing the students gossip about it surprised him. Nevertheless, he headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

"I can't believe he beat a professor that easily." Claire's voice came from beside him.

Fayden furrowed his brows, "Most of the professors here aren't over Initial-Silver. Arthur's Mid-Silver, do the math."

She rolled her eyes, "I don't need you to tell me that idiot. That does make me curious though, what's your core stage?"

Fayden glanced at her, "White."

"What?!" Claire almost fell from her chair. She flushed red noticing the stares she was getting, "How?"

"I've been purifying my core since I was three, fifteen years is a long time." Fayden flicked his fingers, manifesting a bubble of sound magic around them.

"WHAT?!"

He winced, "If you screech any louder, you're going to injure your throat."

"Any more shocking details you want to share?" She slumped down, no wonder Theo lost so badly.

"Not really."

'None I wish to reveal yet.'

Claire knew the look on his face, he was hiding something, but she didn't push.

She sighed, "Ah well, next class is Team Fighting Mechanics, at least that will be more interesting."

Fayden raised an eyebrow, "I'm assuming that's not a theory class."

Claire grinned, "You would be right."

"Too bad I wouldn't be able to join in."

She furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"

Fayden explained, "At this point, only Arthur gives me some sort of challenge, and maybe Nathan and Elijah, but I haven't fought them yet. Everyone else goes down too fast, no offence."

"None taken." Claire knew he didn't mean it as an insult but that didn't mean it didn't sting. "What if you restrict yourself to one element?"

Fayden restrained from rolling his eyes, "Wouldn't work, I've honed all my elements as much as I can."

"Well, maybe you'll get lucky and Professor Glory will put Arthur, Nathan and Elijah on the other team?"

"The last time Arthur and I fought, we decimated the entire area." Fayden deadpanned.

Claire's eyes widened fractionally, "I knew that was you."

"Of course it was me."

Before Claire could reply, the bell rang with the sound of a gong resonating across the room.

"Let's go." Fayden stood up from his seat, noticing Nathan coming his way, two unfamiliar boys behind him.

"Fayden, there you are."

"Sup Nathan." Fayden greeted, "who're your friends?"

"Oh right, this is Brandon Deepwing, a dark-yellow core wind conjurer."

Fayden stared at the bespectacled boy; jet black hair fell around his temples, a bang partially hiding one of his forest green eyes. A wand was tucked in a holster around his waist. He offered Fayden his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Fayden nodded.

"The name's Owen Williams, nice to meetcha." The white haired boy greeted cheerfully, his aquamarine eyes held a boyish innocence.

"Those names sound familiar, were you two ever asked to join the Disciplinary Committee?" Claire entered the conversation.

Brandon nodded, "We decided it would be more imperative to focus on our academics and spellforms, so we declined."

"No hard feelings though, right?" Owen asked with uncertainty.

"Of course, any friend of Nathan's is a friend of mine. I'm Claire Bladeheart, and this fool right here is Fayden Eralith."

"Just ignore her."

"Good luck doing that."

Nathan shook his head, noticing the cafeteria was almost empty, "Oh crap, we're gonna be late."

"If we run we can still make it, probably." Owen failed to hide his panic.

"Truly an error on my part." Brandon muttered to himself.

"Relax, we have enough time," Fayden reassured them, "and Brandon, it wasn't your fault, don't feel guilty."

Claire nodded, "I agree, the professor always comes a few minutes late on the first day, she likes to make an entrance."

And she was right. The moment they arrived in class, the professor flew in, flying on her bond, a large hawk with a wingspan of at least 8 meters. She came into view, grinning with a greatsword strapped to her back.