The next week quickly arrived.
Ahough Derek had tried his best to complete his preparations before the next mandatory family breakfast, he kept finding inadequacies that prevented him from going through with the challenge.
Even until the deadline he gave himself, he held very little confidence in his current capabilities.
But—’I have no other choice!’
It was nearly the end of the first week of August. He could not push the confrontation any further.
"Are you sure you wish to do this now?" Melanie calmly asked Derek while she stood amidst the two brothers in one of the Lewis Estate’s sparring halls.
This was Derek’s first time here, and the grand scale of it added to his unease.
The vast hall was made of polished white stone, creating a blank and empty space only barely filled by four people.
Derek and Klein were naturally the participants of this battle, but Melanie had chosen to referee the fight.
Emma also chose to attend as a spectator.
Or rather, she came to watch Derek get absolutely demolished while cheering for her older brother.
"Yes." Derek nodded resolutely while looking beyond Melanie’s stoic face and catching a glimpse of Klein’s merciless smile.
He already knew...
... His older brother wasn’t joking around in this fight.
’He’s going to use this chance to release his frustrations and have his revenge for everything I have done since his return.’
Derek felt a chill course through his body.
[Host, are you afraid?]
Closing his eyes, he whispered shakily.
"Yes."
He could not deny it.
Terror mixed with doubt swirled in his heart. They nearly overwhelmed him, even to the point of considering forfeiture of the challenge.
But Derek remained steadfast.
He didn’t budge from his position and remained an erect monolith.
’Even if I fail... I have to try my best!’
"Alright then..." Melanie glanced at Klein and noticed his energetic smile. She nodded while quietly giving him a look.
It sent a simple, but stern message.
"Don’t go overboard."
Klein scoffed at this and watched his sister leave the battlefield.
Once she reached the fringe, where Emma had stood since entering the hall, the stage was activated.
A transparent barrier suddenly appeared, distorting the air for a few seconds before vanishing.
This was the effect of a Rune.
It protected those on either side from the effects of certain Spells and Runes, but did nothing about physical phenomena.
That meant anyone could enter and exit the stage, but the mystical effects of Magia clashing against one another would remain within the transparent wall. In addition, spectators could not interfere with the match using certain Magecraft.
With all parties ready, there was no longer any need to delay the inevitable.
Melanie’s emotionless voice swept through the hall, kickstarting the first proper clash between brothers.
Derek immediately charged forward and attacked with a Spell.
"Spell #3: Ignite!" He yelled, lifting his right hand to conjure a spark of blazing flames.
The fire turned into a projectile that flew towards the kneeling Klein.
"Oh?"
Klein’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The same expression was shared by Emma and even appeared on Melanie’s face for a brief moment before vanishing.
Everyone present was amazed by the sight before them.
Derek... could actually use Magia to such an extent?
He successfully cast a Spell!
"So you weren’t all talk..." Klein had just finished inscribing a few symbols on the ground when the flames reached him.
VWUUSH!
The burst of fire expanded once it reached its target, almost like a flare.
A sound of impact reverberated in the hall while the diffusing smoke obscured everything around Klein for a moment.
Derek stood still, his right arm stretched as he prepared a follow-up Spell.
His initial attack had surely hit something.
But was it Klein?
By the time the smoke partly cleared, Klein appeared from the commotion, partly covered in soot and burns.
Derek couldn’t believe it!
’I actually hit him?!’ His eyes twitched in utter shock.
’Then... I won?’
Derek turned around to look at Melanie, but the latter simply shook her head.
’Eh? What does that mean?’
He returned his focus to his brother, who now stood amidst the mostly dispersed smoke.
Klein didn’t say anything.
He simply smiled at Derek and charged at him with a murderous glare.
’Shit!’
Clearly, the burns didn’t affect him enough to impede his speed. Perhaps Klein had used a reinforcement Rune earlier to protect his vitality.
Derek’s Spell was a weak one anyway.
It wouldn’t be enough to stop someone who had spent two years in the Academy.
Maybe he wasn’t even burned at all.
That would explain Melanie’s insistence that Derek hadn’t passed the challenge.
’Then is he using some kind of illusion to make it appear as though he were burned? But why go that far?’
Derek was baffled by the sudden turn of events, but it wasn’t like he had expected the match to end so quickly in the first place. All this time, he knew just how difficult such a battle would be.
With his right arm remaining outstretched, Derek chanted his next Spell in a hurry.
Klein was right in front of him, after all.
"Spell #1: Illuminate!"
Derek closed his eyes while a brilliant ray of light flashed.
It was blinding.
The luminescence infected every corner of the stage, although its intensity was specifically centered at the top of Derek’s open palm.
’Okay! Now that I’ve stunned him—’
Derek was still in the middle of his thoughts when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
It was a kick from the unperturbed Klein.
As his foot sank into Derek’s stomach, the latter’s eyes turned bloodshot.
"Ack!"
Derek was immediately sent tumbling a few meters backwards, feeling overwhelming agony permeate his frail body.
He nearly threw up from the intense pain.
’Get up!’ As he writhed on the ground, he yelled to himself. ’Get up now!’
Klein unfeelingly approached Derek, this time raising a foot to stomp on Derek’s already bruised stomach.
Fortunately, Derek was able to partly recover at this point.
He rolled on the ground and only narrowly evaded Klein’s assault before struggling to rise to his feet.
"I guess that confirms it..." Derek loudly coughed while suppressing a groan. "He must have enhanced himself somehow."
Klein’s smile seemed to twitch slightly when Derek said this.
He cracked his knuckles while he menacingly approached Derek with a wide, oppressive grin.
’He’s much stronger and faster than I am.’ Derek sighed while looking around him for an escape route.
The current distance between him and Klein was simply too small.
The latter would catch him quite easily.
Derek’s best choice was to retreat backwards.
To think, even without resorting to any other Rune, Klein would dominate the battle in such a way...
... It was almost unbelievable!
"This..." Derek whispered a few more words to himself while looking behind him.
WHOOSH!
Klein suddenly charged at Derek with increased speed, causing the already bruised boy to jump backwards in a panic.
The moment he did so, a Rune activated.
It led to a powerful burst of Magia that easily covered both Derek and Klein, who had already closed the distance between them.
This sudden event caused what could only be described as terrifying.
BOOOOOOMM!!!
—A mighty explosion.