WELDONE ALEX ME BOY!

"Dude, no" I immediately rejected his request.

"I knew you would–wait what?" Alex looked surprised.

"He's wayyy beyond your league my dude, stand down," I answered him.

He looked hurt by my statement, but still walked to the front. Mason frowned when he saw Alex stand up against him.

"What do you want, Alex? Scram! Before I consider finishing you off with the rest of them," he glared at him. I tried to get in between them but Alex raised his hand to stop me.

"This is my fight, Max. I don't need my friends protecting me from the likes of him," he said and nodded towards the very angry looking wizard. I reluctantly backed away, acknowledging the look in his eyes. I could sense his fear, but what overpowered more was his sheer determination.

"Never say that I didn't warm you. My legion, ADVANCE!" Mason shouted his commands to the undead. Alex raised his wand and muttered a spell. Suddenly, ten undead soliders rose up from the ground, turning the area around a whole lot darker, a cold breeze spreading through the forest.

They appeared to have rusty battle gear on, their grey dead skin penetrating through the gaps in between. Their eyes held a sort of daze to them, their weapons varying in types and sizes from beaten down swords to cracked axes and so forth.

Don't let their gear full you guys. They may look pathetic, but make no mistake in battle, they are the most deadliest weapons in the field. But unfortunately, against other undead, they may very well pass for scrap metal.

They all turned to Alex, and nodded their their heads when he stared them down. They moved in position to support him.

"I won't allow you to threaten my friends anymore!" he screamed and marched his army forward. Wait, marched it forward? They're actually listening to him! Way to go, my dude!

But unfortunately, as awesome as this looked, there was still an obvious difference in power and numbers. His undead would be pounded down to ash were they to clash in battle. Couldn't hurt to help him out a little.

*appraise*

–––

<*Higher undead soliders [LVL(20)]*>

<* An upgraded version of normal undead soliders. Speed and strength are increased body is more enhanced*>

***

<*Undead soilders detected! User's [dark effect] has been activated. Undead's capabilities have now reduced to fifty percent!*>

[System, could you only affect the enhanced undead?]

<*Understood. Specifying target... Success! Enhanced undead soilders now affected by the 'dark effect' skill only*>

–––

That should settle that. As wizards usually do, both Alex and Mason led their forces from behind. When both opposing sides clashed, they looked equally matched. Both Alex and Mason looked surprised by the outcome, each one expecting very different results.

Mason recovered quick and rose that dagger of his once again. His legion all fell down, their bodies twisting in pain. I actually felt pity for them. Alex had no such pity though.

With that one show of weakness, he took complete advantage of ten of them on the ground. His undead crashed all their brothers on the head, barely leaving any room for resistance. One strike was enough to finish them off. They all crumbled to dust, leveling the plane field with ten to ten.

Mason gnashed his teeth in anger but that didn't stop him from continuing with his suspicious action. Then it happened. I felt the power of the damned dagger he was holding interfering with the area around.

Dark mana distorted all around Mason like a slowly building tornado, the energy slowly gaining power and speed. Something was definitely off about that dagger. The energy began to spread to the undead on the ground, even Alex's forces had to stand back to prevent themselves from that dark magic.

–––

<*ERROR! ERROR! [Dark effect] skill has been canceled out! System build a resistance to dark magic*>

<*Skill (dark magic resistance [LVL 1]) has just been attained!*>

–––

That dagger has dark magic? Well well well, I'ma have to gets' me that new dingledagle!

When all of Mason's undead were touched with that kind of magic, they all stopped moving and twitching spontaneously. Then, with scary uniformity, they all rose from the ground like the undead they were. Once they had all straightened out, they looked ready to take on an entire fleet of soilders.

There was an eerie type of mana coating them, but other than that, they looked as normal as before. I couldn't say the same for Mason. His dagger seemed to have corrupted him.

His golden eyes that once stared hatefully at me were now pitch black, his once sturdy hair now flowing downwards, some of it peeling right off. The only remaining feature that seemed unaffected by the magic was his sneer, as annoying as it looked before.

His body was slowly but surely transforming to one of the dead since his skin was turning from its soft white to an ugly gray. Remind me to hold that thing with my sleeves.

One of Alex's undead chose to test the waters, a fatal mistake on its part. The second it got too close, its head was sliced clean off its body.

"Uh... Alex, maybe you'd like us to step in?" Griffin asked, eyeing the new level of threat from the undead.

"No! Just...watch for now," he answered us.

"Hey dude, no shame in asking for–"

"I already told you NO! I have to finish what I started,"

"Hahahaha! What you started? Don't make me laugh loser!" Mason rebuked, his voice gaining a new meaning to raspy." Last chance to back down. Mrs Ivory sent me on a mission, and you're nothing more than just an bug in my way,"

"Then make me back down! I'm tired of all the stuff you pulled on me! Why couldn't you... why couldn't you just be a normal brother to me?!" Alex questioned Mason, his voice breaking with emotion.

BROTHER?!

"What?!"

Even Mason smile faded when he heard what Alex had to say. I shook my head to Griffin, telling him not to interfere more than needed.

"Since I was born, l knew that I was never wanted. Mum and dad made that painfully obvious. I mean, who tosses their kid in the woods to fend for himself when he barely even finished breastfeeding?" he continued and laughed sarcastically.

"Thank the gods that a good woman saved me before I became food for the beasts. She raised me well, raised me well enough to forgive my parents of their transgressions at least. What were the chances that she was one of the household's maids, huh?"

" I was happy with the life we had. We lived in a small cottage, a good distance away from the castle. She always reminded me to be good to everyone I met, no matter who and what they did to me. At age six, even though she couldn't afford the school, she pulled some strings and somehow I was enrolled in one of the best schools in the country."

"Life couldn't get any better than learning magic, so I was so excited to finally begin my studies. Teresa, my mother, had a lot of faith in me and I never failed her. By second grade, teachers noticed I was too gifted in magic so they jumped me four grades high."

"Do you really think I care about your life–"

"SHUT UP! For once in your life listen to what I have to say, goddammit!" Alex interrupted Mason, tears streaming down his face.

"You...you were in that class and clearly showed a dislike for me the day I stepped in there. You swayed the entire class to hate me due to my advancement, using your influence and money to control everyone, including the teachers."

"I was ok with that, provided I could still learn magic. But you... you were never satisfied with ruining my life in school. You went ahead and dug deep in my life and realized that I was your younger brother and that my foster mother was one of the maids."

"At eight, I arrived home one evening, prepared supper, and patiently waited for Teresa to come in so I could tell her about my day. She never come that night, nor the other nights for that matter..." he inhaled sharply and I could feel the pain he felt. "B–But just after one week, suddenly my parents found our house and came to take me back."

"I was glad, at first, thinking I could finally see mother Teresa, then father dropped the bomb shell by saying that she was executed for stealing a son of a noble." Alex wiped a few tears from his eyes and continued his story.

"I wasn't given any time to mourn her, father just brought me home and gave me some rules about the castle. I was thrown in one of the savants quarters, but not just any one, the worst one in the castle, where I later learnt was where Teresa stayed when she slept over the castle."

"From that day onwards, I became your personal slave, answering each and your every call. Our parents were gracious enough to continue my studies, but they turned a blind eye to the horrors I suffered from you."

"It was obvious who was the golden child, as dad insisted to always help you even though I had more potential than you. I'm not sure if it was grief or finally being acknowledged by my parents that I followed through with their demands."

"Then at school, one of our classmates, Jay, befriended me and that was the day I stopped coming to the castle frequently. You were displeased with that so you saw it fit to cut him out of my life, using many means, even bribery, to try and force him to cut ties with me."

"Even he saw the guy you truly were, a self centered, egomaniac, mad man that couldn't accept his brother to be happy even for once. When you realized you couldn't buy his loyalty, you chose to target me specifically, beating me to a bloody pulp in front of my best friend to get the point clear."

"And now, even at camp, you wouldn't let me be, requesting I always provide you with zombies, MY zombies, to do your evil bidding. And even after Jay tried to stand up for me, you...YOU FINALLY CRACKED AND ALMOST ENDED HIM!" he screamed in rage as he kneeled down in exhaustion.

I think I might be sick.

He's only ten for beasts' sake! Did his family really have a reason to do all that? I–I think I'm even crying. Am I crying? I touched my right cheek and sure enough, it felt wet. A deafening silence settled around all except Alex gasping for air after he was done. After what felt like ages, someone finally spoke up.

"Where are you going with this?" Mason growled.

"I just want you to tell me, why all of this? What did I ever do to you to deserve such hatred from you?" Alex asked, his eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Why, you ask? Simple. Because you have it,"

"Have what?"

"Something all wizards desire, the Brix key,"