Chapter 53: Gray & Alina

Rustle… ~rustle…

The tall grass swayed with the afternoon wind, brushing softly against their skin.

Somewhere far off, cicadas buzzed in their endless chorus, filling the warm silence with a steady hum.

Gray lay flat on the hill, arms spread wide, his small chest rising and falling with each tired breath.

The sunlight painted his hair with a faint golden tint, though the strands were dark and messy from rolling around earlier.

Beside him sat Alina.

Her platinum hair spilled down her back like a sheet of light, catching every flicker of the sun as she gently hummed a low tune.

Her hand absentmindedly combed through Gray’s hair, fingers twisting and playing with the strands.

“Mm~, uhuuu, hmn~”

Her voice floated like a breeze, almost enough to put him to sleep.

“Ahaa…” Gray sighed, his eyes already closing, lips curving faintly in comfort.

But then, her voice cut off.

Her fingers stilled, leaving his hair tousled.

Gray blinked his eyes open, only to find her gaze already on him.

Alina’s expression wasn’t sharp or cold, but the kind of calm seriousness that made her seem far older than she looked.

“Break time’s over, Gray,” she said quietly, but firmly.

“Now it’s time for you to train again.”

“Ehh?!” Gray’s head shot up as he frowned at her, cheeks puffing.

“Already?! We just sat down!”

“You call that a rest? You’ve been lying here for twenty minutes.” Alina tilted her head, her lips curving into the faintest smile.

Gray groaned, throwing his arms over his face.

“Whyyyyy?! It’s boring! I wanna stay here!”

“You can stay here when you’re weak,” she answered simply, her tone as steady as her violet eyes.

“But if you want strength, then you don’t get to stop just because you’re tired. The world won’t care.”

Gray peeked at her between his arms, pouting even harder.

“That’s unfair.”

“Exactly,” Alina replied, brushing the grass off her lap as she stood.

The sunlight caught her hair, and for a second she looked almost unreal, like a figure too far above him.

“Life is unfair. That’s why you have to make yourself unfair to it.”

She held out her hand to him, calm and patient, but with no room for refusal.

Gray hesitated, lips twisting, but finally reached out.

Her fingers wrapped around his small hand, warm and firm.

“Up,” she said.

“We’ll go again. Until your body learns, even when your mind wants to give up.”

Alina didn’t let go of his hand once he stood. Instead, she tugged him forward, leading him down the hill.

“Where are we going…?” Gray mumbled, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“To train,” she answered simply. “Today we’ll work on control. Strength is useless if you don’t know how to command your own body.”

Gray dragged his feet, clearly unimpressed.

But his sister’s expression didn’t waver.

Her calm seriousness was harder than any wall, and Gray had learned long ago, there was no winning against her when she decided something.

They stopped at a clearing by the river, where smooth stones littered the ground.

“Take off your shoes,” she ordered.

“Huh? Why?”

“Do it.”

Gray grumbled but obeyed, tugging off his worn boots and standing barefoot on the rough earth.

Alina crouched down, picked up a pebble, and tossed it toward him without warning.

Thwip!

“Ow!” Gray yelped as it clipped his shoulder.

“What was that for?!”

“Reflex.” She tossed another, this one aiming for his leg. Gray dodged clumsily, nearly tripping on a stone.

“Better,” she said.

“But not good enough.”

Then she smiled faintly.

And began tossing more.

Thwip!

Thwip!

Thwip!

Pebbles flew from her hands in a steady rhythm, some fast, some slow, some curving strangely through the air with faint traces of mana.

Gray’s eyes widened, his small body twisting, stumbling, and flailing as he tried to avoid them.

“What kind of training is this?!” he shouted.

“The kind that forces your body to move without thought,” Alina replied calmly, never missing a beat.

Her throws weren’t random; they came from angles that forced Gray to bend, duck, or stretch in unnatural ways.

His muscles screamed, but little by little, his movements smoothed out.

When he collapsed to his knees, panting, Alina didn’t stop. She tossed a pebble straight at his forehead.

Smack!

“Ahh! Sister!!”

“Stand. Again.”

Her voice was patient, but merciless.

And so it continued as days bled into weeks.

Alina’s methods grew stranger.

Sometimes she blindfolded Gray and told him to walk across the river stones, barefoot, without falling.

Other times, she tied bells to his wrists and ankles, demanding he move without making a sound.

When he grew better, she escalated, dropping water-filled jars on ropes above him, forcing him to catch them without spilling, or striking his back lightly whenever his posture faltered.

All the while, her calm voice cut through every failure:

“Faster, Gray.”

“Don’t think—feel.”

“You can’t just move muscles—you have to know them.”

Gray hated it.

He whined, cried, and even begged to stop, complaining that the other kids never trained like this.

But Alina never once raised her tone, never once softened. She only repeated, over and over, like a mantra burned into his bones:

“Control is everything.”

And then, after exactly one and a half years of her strange training…

Something changed.

One day, as pebbles flew at him again, Gray noticed something strange: their path wasn’t a blur anymore.

His eyes tracked every tiny flick of Alina’s wrist, every arc in the air, every grain of dust scattering as stones skipped across the ground.

It was like time had slowed.

His body moved before his mind screamed at it to. His arm swept up, hand opening at the exact right angle.

Snatch…

He caught the pebble mid-flight.

Alina’s lips curved faintly.

“…Good,” she murmured.

“Your training is now over.”

Gray stared at the stone in his palm, wide-eyed.

’…Did I just catch it?’ he thought

He looked at his sister’s violet eyes, which were as beautiful as ever, and seeing her happy and proud expression, his lips curled slighly.

For the first time, he smiled during training…

But it was probably because it was finally over.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

[Your eldest step-sister?]

“Yeah…” Gray nodded, his expression darkening.

“She put me through… strange training. Brutal, really. But does it matter now? Three years later, she started treating me like trash. So… what does it matter…”

He didn’t know the reason his family started treating him unwell, but he doesn’t care about it anymore.

Maybe it was fake…

Maybe it wasn’t…

But that was no longer his concern.

The only thing left for him now was revenge.

[…Mhm.]

Jasmine hummed thoughtfully.

[Well, now that I know you have complete control over your body, you should adjust the settings to maximum.]

’MAXIMUM?!’

Gray nearly snapped inside.

’If you wanted to kill me, you could’ve just said so!’

[The damage setting, you can leave at zero. We’re training your agility, not your endurance.]

“…Ah. I thought you meant everything,” he muttered.

[…Just do it.]

Gray exhaled sharply through his nose, his hand hovering over the machine’s controls.

But before he could lock it in, Jasmine’s voice paused, shifting slightly.

[Actually… wait. Put the intensity at the middle range instead. And instead of that, wear a blindfold.]

“A blindfold?” he echoed aloud, startled.

“Why would I do that?”

[To sharpen your other senses. Sight makes you lazy.]

Gray stared at the black cloth draped over the side of the machine.

“…Okay, I guess.” He sighed, shaking his head lightly.

He didn’t believe his senses needed training; he already felt more aware than most, but whatever. Jasmine had never been wrong so far.

So, with only a faint grunt, Gray tied the blindfold over his eyes.

“Fuuu…”

He inhaled slowly, trying to focus on the faint hum of mana gathering in the machine, the faint crackle in the air that came before a sphere launched.

“Alright… I got this,” he muttered.

FWIP—THUD!

“Guh—!”

The first orb smacked right against his shoulder. Before he could even register it, another slammed into his ribs.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

“Ugh—!” Gray gritted his teeth, stumbling as one caught his leg. The spheres just kept coming, and every single one found its mark.

From the corner of the room came a small snrk, then a laugh.

“Pfft—hahaha!” Maelis clutched her stomach, nearly doubling over as the orbs continued pelting him.

“S-so much for the cool, untouchable Emryn!”

Gray ripped the blindfold off, glaring in her direction, his jaw tight with annoyance.

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he said dryly, brushing imaginary dust off his shoulder.

[Haaah.]

Jasmine’s sigh echoed in his head.

[As expected… you’ve relied far too much on your eyes. That’s why your other senses are dull. This is exactly why you need this training.]

“…If that’s the case, doesn’t it just mean that as I grow stronger, my senses will naturally catch up?” Gray tilted his head slightly, still frowning.

[No.]

Jasmine’s tone snapped like a whip, as if angered by Gray’s words.

[Without a proper foundation, you’ll be nothing. Raw strength won’t fix sloppy instincts. And besides, haven’t you noticed the difference in your sight ever since your sister’s training? That clarity, that sharpness? That’s not normal, Gray. She forced it into you.]

“…Yeah, yeah. I’ll start training right away, Mom.” He scoffed under his breath, rolling his eyes.

[Joke all you want.]

Jasmine huffed.

[But you’ll thank me later.]

“Sure, I’ll kiss you if it works.”

Gray smirked faintly, shaking his head before tying the blindfold back over his eyes.

[I don’t need your stupid kisse—]

“Alright, then. Round two. Let’s see if I can dodge even one this time.” Her voice was interrupted by Gray’s words.

Fwip!

The machine hummed to life again.

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