Zeuxis kept on going, taunting Sordido so he could continue to put up a better fight. Ronin merely yawned, and watched Pavone at a distance getting eaten by his Daemonic Hounds.

“Can’t you finish this already? I still need to retrieve Cermin from that Crow Baron’s castle so we can leave this Kingdom already and head to Scirocco.” Ronin said.

Zeuxis cackled. “I can take care of this on my own, you can go and retrieve that banana-faced prince! Why are you in a rush to reach Scirocco anyway.”

“The Banquet of the Gods.”

Zeuxis raised an eyebrow in interest. “Oh? Crashing their largest party, eh? I love crashing parties!”

The Banquet for the Gods was coming, where the positions of the Highest Order were determined by the number of prayers they received that for that cycle.

It was also a 16 year cycle, comes after the Astral Shower. 16 was a very important number in determining fates, because it was four multiplied with four.

Four sides of a star, four realms in Magecia, four seasons, four Mage Types, etc. Four was always incorporated. Balanced on all sides.

And there were four of them fighting, until Ronin had to take his leave. Disrupting that balance.

“You better take care of it before the Daemonic Hounds expires. Possibly only 20 minutes left from now.”

Ronin went ahead to deliver one more blow towards the already suffering Pavone.

“URRRRKKKK!!!!!”

“Yes, prune.” Zeuxis rolled his eyes. “I’ll be painting the walls with their blood and have their heads in my collection soon. Can’t you just let me have my fun a little?”

Ronin scoffed, and rushed out of the scene to go towards that castle.

There were crows watching, but he had casted Blinding Darkness on all of them so they weren’t able to report back to their master of his arrival.

Zeuxis went to continue playing around, using all kinds of tricks on Sordido. He once used electricity to form tiny darts on him to strike his body.

Sordido replicated this, and had matched him in the fight. But he was missing something.

Zeuxis was insane, and because of this, he never gets tired.

His ferocity and vigor remains, and it was consistent along with laughter. He had rushed to slash his Dagger Bolt at Sordido, and it nearly burned him if he had not moved quickly to set up a shield of electricity.

The smoke kept on increasing and many buildings have burned from this constant fighting. Yet the monster Zeuxis paid no mind to smoke or flames.

“I suppose playtime is over, I’m getting bored now. You don’t reach my standards.” Zeuxis sneered. “ZAP! ZAP—”

“Sordido!” Someone called out, walking past a burning pile of wooden debris from a house nearby. “Cough, Sordido!”

“Brother! I’m here! Erase his powers!” Sordido called out.

When Zeuxis heard this, he rushed to zap Sordido again. “Let’s see if he recognizes you! Hahahaha!”

The Daemonic Hounds had expired, and Pavone was free to escape.

But once he was faced with the two people who look exactly the same, moving at an impossibly dizzying speed, he was faced with the dilemma of choosing which of them was his brother.

“Sordido!” He yelled to the two fighting at the speed of lightning flashes.

Thunder roared and electricity crackled everywhere. It was getting more and more dangerous.

Pavone needed to move quickly. He can’t stay standing there forever, he was powerless besides making people powerless.

And he had to choose carefully.

“Sordido, reply to me!” He said. “My brother!”

Sordido’s eyes widened at this. He opened his mouth to reply, sweat dripping his forehead.

“I’m here, Brother!” Zeuxis yelled, wearing a wide grin. “Take his skill away!”

“No!!!!” He yelled.

Both of them were fighting above ground, and the moment one of them loses their skill—

He would fall off to the chaos and flames down below. To the inferno.

“Brother, it’s me! Can’t you even recognize which is me and which isn’t!?” Sordido yelled.

“He’s lying, Brother!” Zeuxis yelled back.

The smoke really made it difficult to see beyond just shadows and figures, much less to scrutinize two completely identical people.

Pavone needed to make his decision, and escape with his brother to recover and attack again.

He raised his hand towards the direction of Zeuxis, then back to Sordido…..

“I need proof! If you are my brother, give me proof!”

“Brother!” Sordido was pleading now, while still fighting with Zeuxis. “It’s me! We used to play with snails together, a-and….. You cared about me even when I’m just your half-brother!”

“Your favorite tea is black with 4 and a half spoonful of sugar! I always served you when I was taken in to be a servant at your home! And even when I was part of your Student Council!”

“I cared about you all these years even when you just used me! But I don’t care! I will always be at your side even if you disregard me! I will always serve you!”

Pavone knew now, and raised his hand to erased Zeuxis’ power—

When Zeuxis quickly used his electricity like a lasso, pulling Sordido towards him while he was busy convincing his brother!

Thus, getting him into the place where Pavone aimed his hand, and having his powers erased instead.

He immediately turned back into his true form, and fell.

“BROTHER! HELP ME!”

He fell straight down into the large fire. His screams resounded as he burned, and continued burning.

Pavone looked in horror and yelled his name. “Sordido!”

But Zeuxis landed beside him. “Now that’s just sad. You did recognize him in the end, but only if he proclaims his obsessive servitude to you?”

“What kind of brother uses the other to his benefit?” Zeuxis shook his head in disapproval “Well, it’s the same with me and the prune. So I guess I can’t judge.”

“The only difference between us was that he could tell me apart. While you couldn’t!”

Pavone aimed his hand at him, but Zeuxis had moved quicker and shot his Dagger Bolt on his Obsidian core.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Pavone was electrified, and he had already received too much damage from the hounds biting him.

He blew a whistle, and called out his Griffon to take him away from there.

Zeuxis only looked in amusement, as he was hearing something from the fire that interested him.

The loyal brother who was more like a servant was yelling and groaning, saying something hard to discern.

Zeuxis shot a bolt to the sky to create a raincloud, which doused the fire. As he approached Sordido…

He was already injured beyond salvation. His whole skin burned and barely any parts of him left.

“Brother….. Big Brother….” He called out.

Zeuxis only tilted his head to the side. “Your brother had abandoned you, silver-face.”

“Platinum…..” He corrected even at the verge of death. “I am a Blanc D’Argent till the end….”

Zeuxis grinned. “Even when you are treated as a bastard and a servant? I don’t think that’s the same as seeing you as part of the family at all.”

“You don’t understand….. I would die for my brother……. I will be happy as long as he’s safe……” He said, barely able to speak and wheezing now.

Zeuxis chuckled. “Oh, but I do understand. Too bad your brother never appreciated that from the look of it. He never even looked for you once you fell.”

He was lying, sadistically hurting this already dying man.

But Sordido never blamed Pavone in the end. “Even if he never… looked at me when I died…….. Never cared….”

“I will still be happy to serve….. Big Brother…… Because he is my only family.”

And he went completely still.

Zeuxis tilted his head to the side at this. He decided not to take the head after all, since it’s already badly burnt.

He went to look at the sky nearing dawn, and thought about something.

He remembered when he made that trouble after being allowed to stay in the Academy.

Zeuxis was lazy, and would often not really clean what he was told at the start of it.

He would kick the dirty bucket and just let the water go everywhere, burn a few books in the library where he was made to clean, and then run off to play with some classmates.

But everytime he went back, the library was clean again.

He thought that it was the school management cleaning up after him, not really caring if he does his job and only did so to make fun of him as a ‘special student’.

But one day…

He saw Maellan hunched and wiping the floors, his eyes already heavy with dark bags from researching and focusing on his own studies.

He never said a word nor even hinted on Zeuxis. He just cleaned up his mess without another word.

That was the day that Maellan told him about the value of family.

That was also the time he left the Academy out of his own volition.

And it was also the time…

When he realized that some people will be happy to just serve others at the expense of themselves, even when they don’t deserve it.

For some reason, he had come to admire that trait, and wished to exhibit it. Because for him, no one was tougher…..

Than someone who can endure pain and suffering like that without anything in return.

He wrapped the body with cloth and buried it, bowing his head.

“You weren’t a good match in a fight, but I can respect those who can abandon themself for family.”