After my conversation with Luca, he offered me a demonstration of his dark magic power. I agreed because I wanted to see how far ahead he was in terms of power. Never have I regretted my decision based on curiosity as much as I regretted this.
Of course, the disparity between my and Lucaâs power would be huge. I never really practiced my dark magic, while Luca seemed to have practiced quite a lot, and under my momâs supervision.
[Scua stiellan] (Shadow Leap)
Luca demonstrated how he âlockedâ an animate beingâs shadow, then teleported to where the âlockedâ shadow was.
[Slieht rifter] (Deathâs scythe)
Lucaâs dark scythe slammed on the ground, leaving it with a huge crack...
[Forhtnes] (Fear)
This time, his target was me. I was prepared, but for some reason, I suddenly felt chills running down my spine and I was overcome with the urge to run away from where Luca was.
âAlright, alright, stop! I got it, I got it, Master! You demonstrated such high prowess in dark magic! So...First, shadow possession and even using it to teleport, the second one was to demonstrate your dark magicâs destructive power, and the last...was something like mind invasion?â I waved both of my hands to Luca, urging him to stop overkilling me.
âThe last one is only the basic of mind-related dark magic usage,â Luca thankfully cooperated and stopped demonstrating his dark magic again.
âAre you learning mind manipulation side of dark magic?â I raised my eyebrow.
âWell, just in case. So I could reverse it,â Luca casually said.
âOh...That surely comes in handy,â I nodded in agreement. I was overcome by my fear of screwing up my dark magic that it slipped my mind completely.
âWait, what kind of dark magic did you use to help curb down my dark magic outbreak last time?â I asked.
âThat one is magic absorption. Since itâs also dark magic, I can absorb the other partyâs, depending on my power and their power...I failed to absorb them fully,â Luca smiled bitterly.
âWell, my mom already said that it was the best you could do, and that significantly helped me. Really, thanks, Luca. I hope there wonât be next time I bother you with such things.â
âOf course, but should push comes to shove, Iâll try backing you up. Youâre the one who said to share burdens, right?â
âUwaah, you used my words right back at me just a few while after I said that!â I didnât expect that coming.
âHeh,â Luca smirked.
Just right then...
âLuca-niisama!! Lyra-neesama!!â A small redhead ran towards me. Behind her, a boy with his seaweed-like hair chased the small redhead figure and managed to get next to her. They were Leticia and Kiri.
Just as I prepared myself, seeing how the cute redhead wanted to pounce on me, Kiri shouted, âLyraâs just recovered!â
In that instant, Leticia stopped herself from jumping and remained a few steps from me. She stopped so abruptly it surprised me as well. She then stiffly curtseyed before me and greeted me.
âLyra-neesama, itâs been awhile.â
...
(´ï¼Ð´ï¼`)
âLeticia!â I approached her and patted her head.
âEhehe,â Leticia giggled happily.
Then, we gently hugged each other.
âI miss you!â Leticia said, prompting me to increase my embracing strength.
âI miss you, too, baby!â
Leticia still wanted to be pampered like I usually did her, but she always held back at school, fearing that she would be teased due to it. Even my own adopted siblings, Freyr and Freyja, didnât act freely childish as they were at home.
I agreed how it might be embarrassing to be seen as âchildishâ or âpamperedâ in public. Surely every child wanted their peers to view them with admiration, not teasing gazes.
After shortly playing with Leticia, Luca, and Kiri, I finally returned home along with Mom.
Upon returning home, I asked Mom, âMom, when can I start training my dark magic?â
Mom was a bit stunned before she replied, âYou want to start right away?â
I went silent a bit before I nodded, âYes.â
The more I delay it, the harder it might get. Strike while the iron was still hot. Better ask this now than delaying then backing away.
âAlright then, letâs do a simple training right after this,â Mom said as she led me to her study room.
Mom then brought a square magic box and put it on the desk. She poured some of her mana in it and several small wooden blocks were formed.
âThe first thing we have to have an understanding of is--,â Mom said as she used her hands to cast her wind magic to line up the wooden blocks on the table.
âHow well you can control your dark magic power,â Mom said as she finished lining up the blocks.
I see.
The strength isnât the question this moment, as it has demonstrated its power during the magic outbreak. The question is my control over my strength.
âThere are ten wooden blocks here, all with a little bit of gap between them. What I want you to do is...Can you try destroying those wooden blocks with your dark magic, one by one starting from the one to your left side?â Mom instructed me.
âI will try,â I said as I nodded.
Then, I began concentrating my mind and silently brought forth my dark magic power to destroy the wooden blocks.
A dark mist began to surge from the table as it started to envelop the most left block in order to destroy it. As I felt that the target was locked, I immediately commenced it to destroy the target.
However...
âAh...!â
In the instant I unleashed my dark magicâs destructive power, the two blocks next to the target was also engulfed in the dark magic that went out of control.
The dark mist also toppled the block next to them, causing a domino effect that toppled all the blocks in no time.
âUuu...Is the table fine though?â I didnât expect that I wouldnât be able to control its power to this extent. Well, when I first learned ice magic, I also overdid it, but I was more confident after feeling that I became better at magic. Guess I was wrong, as this dark magic of mine hadnât been polished that much. I only learned the basic of dark magic after all.
âDonât worry about the table, Iâve covered it with light magic that could cancel the dark magicâs power,â Mom chuckled upon hearing my concern.
âItâs harder than I thought...Iâll give it another try!â I said, not wanting to give up.
The next attempt. Two and a half blocks were eaten.
Next one. Two blocks eaten, domino effect created.
Fourth attempt...Perhaps I was getting irritated that I ended up destroying four blocks.
Mom sensed that I was starting to get impatient, so she said, âLyra, take it easy, no rush.â
âBut why canât I do it, Mom? I think Iâve gotten really better at magic, this shouldnât have happened...,â I ranted my frustration away.
âAh, thatâs the case. Youâve gotten better at magic so far that you expected this to be like icing on the cake. Youâve forgotten how it was when you first started with the other magic. Donât worry, youâre actually getting better. Letâs try again with a cool head,â Mom reminded me.
â...Okay,â I took a deep breath before I tried another attempt.
Fifth attempt, two blocks destroyed with no other effectâeven the third block wasnât touched.
Sixth attempt, one block completely destroyed, the second block was damaged as well.
âThatâs it, good!â Mom complimented me.
I actually was getting tired of concentrating. Yes, my mana or magical power consumption didnât really tire me much, but controlling it exhausted my mind.
But Mom said it would get better, and I remembered that was also the case when I first learned magic. So I should just keep trying.
Finally, in the next attempt, I managed to take down only one block. Then, it was easier to take down the other blocks one by one once I managed to do itâor not. I messed up several times in the middle, still.
As I was thinking on continuing until I managed to get all ten down one by one, Mom decided to end todayâs training here and continue later on.
âItâs quite late. Arenât you hungry?â Mom asked.
âUh, now that you mention it...,â I was concentrating for quite some time that I got hungry. Besides, I felt that the more I tried just now, the more I messed up, so perhaps it was wise to call it a day now.
The training seemed simple, but the simple training turned out to be arduous.
Thus, my first time training after I woke up ended right there.
That night, Alt-nii and the twins volunteered to help my training for the next day. Mom and Dad also gave me some books about dark magic that I could read and learn by myself.
I refreshed some knowledge about dark magic that night.
As expected, dark magic that was related to mind manipulation was the hardest to do. Lucaâs demonstrated [Fear] was like the basic example of it, though. I read about how [Fear] was used to intimidate beasts that adventurers might encounter in the middle of their journey, thus saving their lives. There were actually other uses of mind manipulation magic that wasnât evil in nature.
On the next day which was luckily still a holiday, my siblings all helped me in training my magic.
Compared to the simple yet arduous training Mom gave me yesterday, todayâs training session was easier.
Alt-nii took out his FS board that he often used to play around. He rode on the sleek board that was powered either by solar energy or magic to float and dash about. The flying skateboard was a hit especially among teen boys, especially during sport week as there were FS-board competition. Unfortunately, Alt-nii was only interested in using it as a play, and never really interested in taking it into competition.
My training with Alt-nii was a challenge to manipulate Alt-niiâs shadow to at least stop, as he rode on his FS board. He also imbued his FS board further with his wind magic, so it was a bit hard.
The rule was that I had to step on either Alt-nii or his FS boardâs shadow and cause both of them to stop. When I tried stepping on Alt-niiâs shadow, his FS board continued to dash without the user on top of it...and when I tried stepping on his FS board, Alt-nii jumped and could move about.
When I succeeded in making both of them stopâit only lasted for a moment as Alt-nii used his wind magic to power up, causing him and his FS board to move again. I increased the power to my magic and make him stop again.
But all in all, it seemed like a game of chasing someone, so it was really fun. Even Freyr and Freyja laughed seeing us doing this training like this.
After I succeeded in stopping Alt-nii and his FS board until the allotted time, Freyr and Freyja demanded to train with them.
Freyr and Freyja collaborated in manipulating the soil and the plants to create animate targets for me to practice my dark magic.
[Scua trendel] (Shadow ball)
My practice aim today was creating a good small shadow ball that was powerful enough it could destroy its target once it was hit. This training also drilled my concentration again to aim the shadow balls to the targets. I tried first with one shadow ball before finally trying to up the challenge by controlling multiple shadow balls at the same time.
Even so, because I didnât really have to limit the destructive force that much, this training was more enjoyable than my training with wooden blocks yesterday.
Freyr and Freyja also considered this to be their own magic training and also collaboration training. Perhaps since they were twins, their minds were kind of synchronized that their collaboration was so smooth.
Also, their targets were allowed to attack me, so at the same time, I tried to practice using my dark magic as a form of my defense.
[Nifol clûstor] (Dark barrier)
I decided to try practicing from Spraec incantation first, as it was easier to do.
Mom was our supervisor all along, so she gave some pointers and evaluation to all of us about our magic usage. Meanwhile, Dad was out to inspect some matters in our territory.
âThatâs good, but you still need more training to train the power output, Lyra,â Mom advised me.
âUuu...Yeah, itâs hard...Say, whatâs the best way to gain control of dark magic, Mom?â I asked.
âEh? Well, technically, one can master their dark magic once they can gain control and win over the darkness in their hearts...As the yin-yang theory said, there should be good and bad in a person,â Mom smiled profoundly.
âAah...I see, so thatâs really needed to really master it, huh...,â I cast my eyes downward.
I wanted to really consult this matter, but I...
I looked at Mom who smiled at me with a questioning look.
âUh, Mom...,â my mouth opened on its own.
âYes, Lyra?â Mom immediately asked.
Uh-oh, my mouth should be tightly closed, really.
âI...Actually...â
The light god, or Aion-sama, can you somehow contact me through telepathy and give me a hint already?!
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