Chapter 101: The Black Sheep of the Ryu Family (2)

Raios roared, “Y-you bastards. You dare!”

Crackling blue sparks erupted around him. Sensing the violent mana coursing through the sparks, I hastily grabbed Berald by the collar and yanked him back. With a thunderous roar, a bolt of blue lightning struck the exact spot where Berald had just been standing.

It seemed Berald hadn’t completely avoided the blast. He groaned in pain, his large frame curling inward. A seared wound now marked his forearm, which was thick as another man’s thigh, where the lightning had grazed him.

“You okay?” I asked.

Berald pushed himself up, pressing a hand to his scorched arm. “Ugh, I’ll live.”

Raios bared his teeth, seething and huffing, and raised his hand. “You lowborn, insolent brat! How dare you!”

His soul stigmata flared, gathering an immense surge of lightning, and he sharply chanted, “Spear of Thunder!”

A spear of crackling blue lightning surged toward Berald. But I moved to intercept it, executing Berald Combat Style: Sea Splitter. With a slicing motion of my hand, I formed searing embers at the edge of my palm, cleaving the lightning spear clean in half. The flames consumed the broken spear.

Raios’s eyes widened in disbelief as the spear vanished into thin air as though it had been devoured. “Wha…?”

He stared at me with trembling eyes, unable to comprehend what had just happened. “You. You bastard! What did you just do?”

I shrugged casually. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking that, Senior? Don’t you know that violence is a clear violation of the academy’s regulations?”

He gestured to Berald with a jut of his chin. “Hah! If we’re talking violence, that bastard is the one who struck first!”

I flashed a sly smile and innocently tilted my head. “Hmm? Violence? From what I saw, Berald only accidentally caused you harm. I didn’t sense any intent to attack.”

“Are you kidding me? You call that a valid excuse?”

Arms crossed, I replied smoothly, “It’s not an excuse, Senior. Unless, of course, you have some kind of evidence to support your claim?”

“Evidence? I…!”

I couldn’t help but scoff. “Oh, well, if you count that messed-up face of yours as evidence, sure, that might qualify. A second-year cadet and a ‘black sheep’ from a branch family, no less, leaving you all bruised and battered. Pfft! Well, if you insist, go ahead and use that as your evidence.”

Raios ground his teeth and glared daggers at me. “You little…!”

But it didn’t last long. The glow from his soul stigmata began to fade, and the sparks of lightning dancing around him slowly dissipated.

He narrowed his eyes at Berald and sneered. “Hah! Fine. An accident, huh? Let’s say it was an accident. Accidents come with consequences.”

Raios grinned, baring his teeth. “There will be no more financial support for the branch family.”

Berald’s eyes flew wide open. “W-what does that have to do with any of this?”

Raios shrugged with a wicked grin. “Beats me. Not my problem. All you need to know is that from now on, not a single coin of gold will go to the branch family.”

“W-wait! Hold on, Bro— I mean, Senior! If you cut the funding—”

“What? Can’t afford a caretaker for your senile old man?”

“My father was injured fighting for the Ryu family! That support is rightfully his!”

Raios picked at his ear, bored. “Says who? A member of the Ryuu family fighting for the family? Isn’t that just what’s expected? Or are you saying branch families aren’t part of the Ryu bloodline anymore?”

“Senior!”

“Agh, enough! Anyway, I’ll be proposing this funding cut as an official agenda point at the next family meeting. So get ready.”

Berald trembled, fists clenched tight. “Khgh!”

I stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. If it’s money, I’ve got you.”

Berald confusedly blinked at me, unsure what I meant. “Brother? You don’t have any money, though.”

He knew I was attending the academy on a government scholarship. Truthfully, I didn’t have much on me either. Still, I said firmly, “That’s what friends are for, right?”

I had a reliable source of funding, or more precisely, friends with deep pockets. If Jules didn’t cough it up, I’d just squeeze it out of Rosanna instead. Even if House Helios had declined a bit in recent years, the massive wealth they had accumulated as one of the Empire’s high-ranking noble houses hadn’t vanished overnight.

“Anyway, don’t worry about the money,” I said.

Berald bit down on his lip in silence. After a long pause, he shook his head slowly. “No. This is my problem. I can’t let you solve it for me.”

He stepped past me and approached Raios. Kneeling in front of him, he said, “I apologize if I’ve offended you, Senior. I lost my temper and threw a punch without thinking.”

He bowed so deeply that his forehead touched the ground. “I’ll accept any punishment for the violence. Please, calm your anger.”

Raios scoffed, glancing at the kneeling Berald. “And where’s that tough act from earlier?”

“I’m sorry!”

“What? An Awaken spell? Bullshit, you can’t even muster a proper Mana Bullet, and you’re claiming you used magic?”

Berald continued apologizing. “I’m sorry.”

“Ugh! You could’ve just quietly brought me some bread and avoided all this mess, couldn’t you?”

Still bowing, Berald repeated the same apology over and over, like a broken machine. “I’m sorry.”

Honestly, I wanted to turn Raios into a bloody pulp, Ryu family or not, but Berald didn’t want me to take any action. If I stepped in now, I could shatter my bond with him beyond repair.

Raios stood with arms crossed, looking down at Berald, who had his head bowed. “Alright, then. Let’s do it this way. If you can beat me in a duel, I’ll drop the issue about the funding.”

Berald slowly raised his head and looked up. “A duel, you say?”

Raios smirked and nodded. “Yeah. But only using magic.”

Berald’s face tensed with confusion. “That’s…”

“You haven’t forgotten what kind of family we come from, have you? Hmm?”

The Ryu family was known as the greatest house of mages in the Republic. Even in the Empire and the Holy Empire, most people would recognize that name.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the sly grin on Raios’s face. This bastard’s really trying to be clever, huh?

He knew Berald couldn’t use magic. That offer wasn’t a challenge; it was a setup, a way for him to legally beat down Berald under the guise of a duel.

Berald quietly replied, “Fine.”

A cold, mocking grin crept across Raios’s lips. “Great. Then three days should be enough for you to train, right?”

There was no way anyone could master magic in three days, especially not someone who had struggled his whole life to even fire off a single Mana Bullet. Raios surely knew that better than anyone.

Berald nodded with a blank expression. “Alright.”

Raios beamed, then turned away. “See you in three days, Little Brother.”

As he chuckled and walked off. Berald let out a deep sigh and slowly stood up.

I looked at him. “Berald…”

Berald gave a hearty laugh, grinning like it was nothing. “Hmm? Hahaha! Why the scary face, Brother? It’s just a duel, right? Even if I get roughed up a bit, Big Sis Iris is around to patch me up!”

He patted his chest, as if telling me not to worry. But his tone and his eyes made it seem that he had already accepted his defeat. I frowned as I looked at him. This wasn’t right. The Berald I knew wasn’t someone who gave up so easily.

I grabbed him by the collar. “Stop talking nonsense.”

***

A memory from my past life suddenly flashed through my mind, from back when I was training in the Berald Combat Style under him.

“Hah! Hah! I-I can’t… I can’t go on anymore!” I had said.

“Already giving up, Brother?”

“What do you mean already? Do you even realize how many days, no, weeks I’ve been training non-stop like a madman?”

“Of course, I know.”

“I can’t keep going. This is my limit. You’ve seen it yourself. I’ve got zero talent for hand-to-hand combat. No matter how hard I try. I just can’t do it.”

Seeing him remain silent, I had asked, “What? Are you going to lecture me again?”

“No.”

Back then, Berald had given a small smile and sat beside me, where I had collapsed in exhaustion. “I was the same, you know.”

“The same? How?”

“I also hit my limit. I thought effort was meaningless. I lived my life giving up on everything.”

“You?”

The phrase “giving up” had felt so alien coming from Berald.

“As you know, I’ve got no talent for magic. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even cast a proper Mana Bullet.”

I had been speechless after hearing that.

“So, I gave up.”

“But what we’re doing now is…”

“You’ve never seen me use magic, have you?”

“No.”

“Heh. That’s because I still can’t.”

Despite all that, the combat style he created, the Berald Combat Style, was paradoxically something that couldn’t be completed without the ability to use magic.

“I have regrets,” he had said.

“About what?”

“If only I hadn’t given up on magic back then, if I could’ve at least cast a proper Mana Bullet…”

Berald had clenched his bandaged fist tightly. “Maybe then, I wouldn’t have felt that crushing despair of standing at the edge of the technique I poured my entire life into, yet knowing I could never fully reach it.”

His voice was heavy with regret.

I had tilted my head and asked, “Then why not learn magic now? I’m studying under Senior Sophia these days. You could join too…”

Berald had shaken his head softly and said, “No. It’s too late. Among the various martial arts I studied to complete my own style, one had a side effect that blocked magic manifestation. The moment I learned it, I lost the ability to ever use magic again.”

Now that I thought about it, Berald could release mana into the air, but he couldn’t cast spells with it. It was like having fuel but no way to ignite it, like the spark was broken. That was why he could never reach the ultimate form of the combat style he had dedicated his life to, not even in his final moments.

Berald had said with a grin, “Don’t worry! The version of my martial art I taught you doesn’t have that side effect. You won’t lose your ability to use magic. So, please, don’t give up, Brother.”

He had treated it as if it were nothing, as if he hadn’t just laid bare a lifetime of regret.

With a smile, he had said, “You’re the most persistent person I know, aren’t you?”

No, he had been wrong. I had never been persistent. The one who had taught me not to give up was none other than Berald himself.

Berald. Because you existed, I was able to become who I am.

***

“Hey,” I said to Berald.

“Hm? What’s up, Brother?”

I yanked him closer by the collar. “You’re going to learn magic from me.”

That’s why, this time, I’m not going to give up on you.

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