Part -V The Decision
"Aeric, I'm sorry to say, but Mom and Dad passed away on the night of October 6th. I got this information through my informants shortly after you both escaped."
*****
As Aeric heard this, his face became pale and lifeless, and tears streamed from his eyes as his knees buckled, sending him to the ground.
He looked at Eric, who was still facing away from him, and spoke:
*****
"What? Brother Eric, you must be teasing me, right? Yeah, just like you used to tease me before... hahaha, right? That must be it. But please, don't scare me like that. I might actually beli—"
"AERIC, IT'S THE TRUTH! The SOONER YOU UNDERSTAND IT, THE BETTER!"
"No, this can't be right. Dad is the strongest in the entire multiverse, and Mom is also super strong. There's no way they can die! Brother, you must be lying. They must be alive!"
"...Aeric, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you... but this is true. Dad and Mom are no longer with us. We need to 'stay strong' in this situation."
"Yeah, I need to stay strong."
"Yeah, I need to stay strong... stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong, stay strong... stay strong? Was I ever even strong to begin with?"
I then wailed in heartache and pain until I started to feel fuzzy and passed out.
Eric Rifold POV:
Aeric let out a cry of torment as he passed out unconscious Ithen carried hin on my back and laid him down under a nearby tree,
"Don't worry it's natural, no one can handle such a news with composer and I'm happy that you let all your frustration and fear out , as your brother I'm happy to know how you feel. This makes me more eager to push forward".
I looked back and saw Rose giving me a skeptical look.
"Was it necessary to be that rough with him? He's just seven, and you are too young to act so mature. You're only twelve. You may be talented at controlling mana and all, but judging by your expression, even you couldn't ignore how much your little brother had bottled up that inside his little undeveloped mind."
huh.....What did she mean by that?.. oh, I hadn't even realized when I started to tear up.
She continued, "Eric, but you realize it too, right? Sir Godric was killed ," she then lowered her voice and now in a regretful tone continued, " And now the strongest is dead. If nothing is done, the whole multiverse will be in chaos, and along with that the Rifold Household will lose all its power and influence soon enough."
something in that she said really got on my nerves and so I exclaimed,
"As if I'll let that happen! I've decided that I'll be the next head so that I can ████████. Also I'll—███████████████████—"
Rose was startled by what I said. It took her a few moments to process it.
Understandably, Rose, being Mother's only disciple who lasted under her harsh training, felt like a big sister to both of us. I have known her for as long as I can remember, and I can understand her concerns for me. But it was the only way for us to move forward, and I had already prepared myself for what was coming next.
After a brief moment of stillness, Rose broke the silence, stating, "Even so, I cannot allow you to do something like this. Your parents trusted me with all three of you, and I don't intend on breaking any promise—"
"So you mean you'll let the Rifold Household, one of the 'Prestigious Families' whose mere existence plays a crucial role in Golden Union's stability, lose its only way to keep standing just because you're not sure if the next in line to become head is still relatively young?" I interrupted and further spoke, "Do you know my father holds the record for becoming the youngest head of the family at only the age of 16? Surely due to this unforeseen incident and my capabilities, I'm eligible to become the next head."
Rose remained firm in her decision. "Even so, I cannot allow you to do so—"
"JUST LET ME DO WHAT I NEED TO! YOU'RE AN OUTSIDER WHO DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING!!!" I interrupted her yet again.
"Uh—wait—argh! I mean ... Rose, sorry, I didn't mean to say that." Realizing that I had said something I shouldn't have, I immediately apologized to her.
As my anger subsided, I noticed the way her eyes were covered in shadow, making it impossible to see the pain that must have been reflected there.
Then she suddenly started laughing out of amusement, as she stated, "Why does the only trait your entire family shares have to be this stubbornness? Alright, but on one condition."
"Please state it!"
My eyes lit up upon hearing a proposal.
"You have to win a fight against me. Only then will I acknowledge you as capable of carrying such a weight."
"A fight, huh... very well then."
"So tell me when and where to fight—"
"That won't be needed. We'll be fighting here right now, and you are allowed to go all out as I won't be holding back today," Rose interrupted.
"We both haven't fought in a while, so it'll also be a way for me to see how you'll be able to put up a fight against your senior."
We both walked farther to where Melody and Aeric were located, and we finally found what we were looking for—an open area within the forest where no one could intervene.
Rose drew her black blade from her core space as I manifested all the mana I could around me. Manifesting mana around me would give me an upper hand while dealing with a crusader, as I could simply change the mana property and convert it into something to block her attacks.
We both began the fight as we bowed. Rose dashed at me with her quick footwork and gave me a basic sword slash, to which I responded by converting mana into a strong concrete shield.
"Your talent to immediately use the three basic mana utilization techniques is really something straight out of a horror movie, you know," Rose praised me.
"Thanks for the praise, but kindly focus on the fight. I don't want to hear any excuses after I win."
"You're gonna pay for getting on my nerves now!" she shouted as she prepared another attack. "Flower Style Sword Skill: Petal Slash." This one was stronger, faster, and larger in scale as her blade was completely covered in petals. She dashed towards me.
"I know that move is only good due to its fast-paced form; I can easily deflect it."
I created another strong concrete shield like last time, but to my surprise, she jumped towards a tree branch behind me and then launched herself at twice the speed she was coming before.
*Clang*
With a gesture of my hands, I drew upon my strongest offensive skill that could hardly keep up with her monstrous skill—the Light Spears. A group of mana-generated spears manifested wherever I concentrated mana with my hands, merging a massive amount of it in a certain manner.
The spears collided with her blade, and she got knocked back a bit. My spears disintegrated from the impact, but that was of no concern as I could manifest as many as needed.
"So you decided on using an offensive skill to repel an offensive skill. Not bad taking your small experience to combat. But you need more than that to defeat me, right now I felt it as well that your spears were hardly able to keep up with my skill, what if I use something stronger than my last attack~ •⩊•~~?!! ", she exclaimed cutely as if she was having fun, but I couldn't hide it either that I was enjoying this spar as much as she was.
"Flower Style Sword Skill: Floral Fury!"
Unlike her last attack, this one was on another level. It created a mini dome in which all my surroundings darkened. Thorny vines along with razor-sharp leaves were coming from all directions.
I created a light barrier surrounding me. It was evident that if I wasted any time, it would soon...
With all of my leftover energy, I concentrated it on an arrow (a smaller version of the spear I made before), crafted a mana bow, and drew the arrow as I channeled all of the leftover core power within me.
After a few seconds, the arrow was filled entirely with photon mana. It was getting harder and harder just to control it. Somehow, I held on. Just as the arrow was about to explode from the mana outburst, I shot it, aiming toward the position where Rose was most likely to be.
As I shot it, it released a massive shockwave that deflected all the projectiles (vines and leaves) and pierced straight out of the dome.
As the hole was created, the dome immediately started to disappear, and I got a glance at Rose. She was shocked to see how her probably strongest skill got bested by a 12-year-old. Hehe.
The arrow was moving in the opposite direction, so I tried to change its trajectory, but it wouldn't budge an inch from its path.
'If I give her enough time to know what I'm scheming, she'll probably counter it. The only chance of me defeating her right now is to change this arrow's direction towards her. But how? I've run out of sufficient energy to change it directly. Damn it!'
Then I got an idea. I recalled the arrow towards me using my ability to call back mana that had my energy essence in it. I sneaked behind Rose as fast as I could and ran in the opposite direction.
By doing so, the arrow was now targeting me, and Rose was between me and the arrow.
As I anticipated, it happened.
The already stunned Rose was now head-on trying to deflect the arrow with her blade.
"It is close enough," I muttered. I concentrated on the ground below the arrow and manifested another spear to provide the arrow with more mana.
*BOOM*
Due to overfilling the arrow with mana, it exploded, knocking Rose down for good.
I walked up to her as I spoke, "It's my victory."
To be continued...