"Holy shit!" Vezba's deep, baritone voice resounded through the outdoors training grounds of the Exousia Famiglia.
While it was touted as a "training grounds," it was actually anything but. The Exousia Mansion was a very spacious and sturdy building, built to last spells from Warcaster and Stormcaster alike, it was not invincible.
Ever since the birth of the young scion of the head of the famiglia, magical accidents and catastrophic events had been occurring from day one. In fact, when the young lady was birthed into the world, a whole section of the Mansion was destroyed in a magical blast of pure mana, resulting in multiple injuries — a couple deaths — and the untimely death of the current head's wife.
Which was very, very bad.
Glaring at Feilu, the blind woman with her body seemingly frozen in an bodyblow strike like some kind of miraculously intricate statue, he tramped menacingly toward her. His ruby eyes were alit with the wrath of a rampaging Titan.
He grabbed her white robe's collar with his gigantic hands and forced her to face him, pulling on her robe.
"What the hell did you do?!"
He pointed at the soaring black dot.
"That kid's dead!"
Her calm and even face did not budge one bit. But he knew, from all the time they had spent together, that her expressions always heled much more than what she let on.
Squinting his eyes, he shook the lady twice and spat out menacingly:
"Do something! Or else, I'll…"
"It's fine. I've got this."
The young scion of the Exousia Famiglia stepped forward, her bright smile unfading, as if trying to compete with the sun.
"In the first place, I brought him here. He's my responsibility."
Vesba scowled and said with a dubious gaze:
"Look, princess, I think you overestimate your powers too much. You may have the output to most certainly catch that kid, but I don't think your mana control is advanced enough to do so. Don't get me wrong. I don't doubt that you can do it. I just really think it'd be better if you… I don't know… not try?"
Though he was the one who asked the question, Vesba felt more confused himself at his unconscious ramblings.
'What am I talking about?'
Looking down at the paved and concrete ground used most commonly by the strongest members of the famiglia, so as not to ruin the Mansion, the young scion sighed and gazed at the furious tornado of chaotic mana that surrounded her at all times.
She looked awe-stricken, as if the very sight of her own magical ability was enough to sent shivers down her spine. Which it did for everybody else's, but would be really weird if she had been so herself.
It's not like she ever had trouble recognizing what she was capable of.
With her mana-sensitive blue eyes, Manavision came as naturally to her as breathing, and much more effectively, too. Not to mention the ability of her eyes to evolve to much higher levels, such as the illusive Truesight. Or even the Deathsight that the burly man himself held, forever sealed in the depths of his pupil.
Feilu's face was as impassive as ever, lacking any kind of animated emotion. It was like looking at a finely-carved statue made of the finest marble.
However, even if nobody else couldn't, Vesba recognized the subtle contractions of her pale face, the involuntary twitches and most hidden of micro-expressions.
She was scared shitless.
…And so was she, but nobody didn't need to know that.
Sparing a glance up, he watched as the tiny black dot slowly fell down, a least in their perspective. In reality, it was quickly approaching.
The future was looking grim for the young candidate.
He hadn't even gotten to teach the kid anything yet.
…Though, strangely enough, the kid did not seem to be panicking, remaining strangely silent throughout the entire flight. That horrible, terrible flight.
Maybe he was admiring the sky? As weird as that would be…
'Nah, couldn't be.'
Turning to face the young sage, no more than twenty, he glared with a meaningful gaze. His ruby eyes flashed.
"That bitch."
But the lady didn't budge. Not even a bit. She seemed to be too engrossed to some arcane-looking tome and its contents again.
When was she going to pay him any attention?
Stomping towards her with a snarl, Vesba released Feilu's robes and snatched the tome away with brute force. The book resisted his clutches, as odd as that was, but ultimately buckled under his power, yielding to his strength.
The young sage looked at the empty air where the book was just floating at, an expression of shock and stupefaction etched on her flawless face. She seemed to be genuinely confused as to what just happened.
She lingered for a few moments before finally sparing a glance towards Vesba. The sunlight bounced off her glasses, hiding her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Her voice was neither offended nor kind, just… disappointed.
Vesba pointed up, ignoring her gaze. It's not like he can her eyes, anyways.
"Catch her, Selen. Use your magic."
The black dot had become visible enough to just barely make out the horrific image of a young boy the age of ten, a serene expression on his young face.
She raised her brow, baffled.
"Why?"
Vesba almost threw her to the ground.
'This girl…!'
He grit his teeth.
"Because he'll die and make the young boss cry. She seems to have crush on."
"I… I do not!"
Vesba rolled his eyes.
"Can't you just do it? You should be able to jump from this height, right?" Selen spoke as clear as the sky, her voice carrying some invisible weight to it.
Vesba sighed. He didn't blame her for not knowing; she was new, after all.
"Look, being able to jump high and survive a fall from that height are two entirely different skills, okay? I may be able to do both, but that kid can't do neither. He'll die the moment we land. Or if he's lucky, merely crush his bones."
He threw a hateful glare to the stone-faced woman, her face indifferent to all but him.
"And Feilu already did enough of that."
Still, the question remained:
'Would he even have the will to continue on?'
As far as he remembered, ten-year-old kids weren't used to soaring hundreds of feet into the air with crushed bone and punctured organs.
…Well, except for the young miss. She had always been an eccentric kid. Was there even anybody else like her in the Lucifica continent?
He highly doubted it.
Sighing, Selen released her staff and set it to the side, gingerly leaning it on her conjured seat of earth. She had made it to, well, sit.
"Fine, I'll do it. But…"
She shot a meaningful look back.
"You owe me one."
The atmosphere grew tense at her words. She was challenging him, but he did not want to reciprocate.
"Sure, whatever."
Vesba just shrugged the threat off and gestured for her to save the boy.
Lingering, the young sage looked away, turned on her heels, and walked towards the center of the concrete platform.
Looking up musingly, she pulled out a short branch of enchanted wood. It was twisted unnaturally, with slit-like gaps in a serpentine design traveling up its shaft. Green light was seeping through the essence flowing within it, swirling and pulsating. It was as though it was alive.
But no, it was not. Vesba was not going to make that mistake again.
With a swish and a flicker, Selen waved her wrist smoothly and elegantly like the wind themselves, her gesticulations even and flowing.
Elegant wind, cold and soothing, swirled around her, then shot up with a final motion, wrapping around the boy at the very last second.
There was a brief sense of confusion and frustration about her for the briefest of moments, but it soon disappeared, just like the wind itself.
Slowly but surely, the boy fell down, his falling speed significantly reduced. The boy's eyes were closed. He seemed to have fallen unconscious, most likely from fear. There was a serene look on his face.
'What happened to him?'
Putting that aside, Vesba walked over to where the boy was and quickly inspected his body.
Hopefully, they were fast enough.
Expecting some kind of horrific wound or shards of bone sprouting out of the boy's body, Vesba lifted up the young boy's shirt…
His eyes shot open with shock.
A horrific feeling of utter disdain and instinctive revulsion washed over him, making him scowl deeper than ever.
"What the hell is that?"