Orion opened his eyes.

"Wait, where am I?"

He turned around, searching for Amelia and Karteira, who were nowhere to be seen. He was in a white-void space, which felt strangely familiar.

"And my body seems fine too. The pain isn't even there."

He touched the parts he was supposed to be hurt at, but there were no traces of pain right now.

"Of course you're fine. You've only projected your mind in this place."

A voice he had heard before approached him from behind— a voice he thought he would never hear again.

"Father! Why am I here again?"

He turned to see his father, Reon, with a confused but relieved look on his face.

"I don't know. Have you done something that activated the bracelet's function?"

Reon instantly recognized that the bracelet was activated.

"I don't think I've done such a thing. I'm still glad to see you once again."

Reon smiled at his son and approached him. He patted his back and continued walking forward.

"I'm glad to see you, too. Come with me; it seems like you have a few things to say. I can see it on your face."

Orion nodded, and both of them walked side by side in the wide white expanse.

"Father, why didn't you explain your abilities in detail? I've found the fairies during my travels, and I learned about your achievements in protecting them."

"I even figured out most of the quirks of your own skills, so why did you hide it so much?"

Orion immediately asked him a question, as he was eager to learn more about his father.

"This is the first thing that comes out of your mouth? I thought you'd ask about why your mother isn't here first."

He shook his head at Reon's remark.

"I already have an idea why I'm here, and mother being absent only validates my thought. She's still sleeping, I imagine. You woke up here by yourself?"

Reon smiled warmly.

"From whom did you inherit this wit of yours? I wonder."

"But you're right. I haven't seen Orianne since I opened my eyes. The system might have found a way to focus only on one of us when it's necessary. I don't remember such functions, but whatever."

Reon looked straight and began to think of the best way to talk about his life.

"There is a part of the angel faction I didn't talk about in the recordings, and I made sure Orianne never remotely brought it upon you."

"When we were still alive, I was supposed to be the next leader of the faction, but it wasn't always supposed to go this way."

His voice was soothing Orion's mind. After all this time, he could finally get to see him again. Still, he was deeply focused on the words he spoke.

"Well, the same happened to her, but it's not my role to explain it. I was weak— far too weak— when I was your age. So much so that the elders refused to even acknowledge me as the son of my father, the leader at the time."

With a shrug, Reon continued.

"Can you imagine? The only ability I had at the time was the ability to create a small current between my fingers. This was my life. There was nothing I could do, and I had already given up on becoming the next leader."

Orion listened to the story quietly as they both continued walking.

"But this is where I feel ashamed. One day, I was sent on a delivery to the demon city to deal with some peace formalities."

"We weren't particularly on good terms, but we were done with the open conflicts by now, so I had no trouble entering the demon leader's house."

Orion noticed a warm smile on his father's face.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"As strange as it sounds, the demon leader was a martial artist teacher, and he received me with a smile. I didn't really understand all that talk about politics at the time, so he finished it in no time and gave back the scroll like it was no big deal."

"I was walking next to him toward the exit when I got stopped in my tracks, caught by the beauty of the person training in the middle of the garden. She had sparkling crimson hair and stunning red eyes, and her form was absolutely gorgeous."

The look on his face showed how much love this memory brought him.

"But honestly, that wasn't what had caught me off guard. She was moving like me, a novice. She was using fire magic, but all she could do was create a small ball of fire in her hands."

"The leader explained to me that she was his daughter, that she was a lost case, that power refused to gather inside her, and that only basic martial arts would ever be taught to her."

Orion rapidly gathered that he was talking about Orianne, his mother.

"I felt relieved to find someone like me on this side too, but at the same time, I felt disgusted."

"Why was I happy to find someone struggling like me? The point was to avoid birthing as many failures like us as possible. In the end, I asked if it would be possible to observe before leaving, and he agreed."

"I stood on the side, and I looked at her struggling to even maintain her magic, my hands tight-fisted. I cursed the world for giving such a hardworking person so little ability."

"At one point, she finished her training and fell a knee to the ground, which woke me from my thoughts at the same time."

"I took the opportunity to leave, but I wasn't fast enough, and that girl caught my arm out of nowhere."

—

"You... You've been watching me for a few hours. Who are you? Do you need something from me?"

The young Reon, not knowing what to do, panicked and turned slowly.

"Ah- Right. Yes, I have been watching you. I'm Reon, an envoy from the angel faction."

"I didn't need anything from you, particularly; I was simply looking at your efforts."

The girl kept his arm in her hand. She gripped it a bit too strongly without even realizing it, but Reon took it upon himself and kept quiet.

"So even the angels come here to mock me? That will be a good story for the rest of your faction, isn't it?"

The look on his face wasn't pretty after she uttered those words.

"Why would I do that? I know I've been looking, but I've never mocked you."

"What? I thought the angels were all overachievers who liked to dismiss the weak. Are you not like that?"

She looked at him with a gaze full of judgment.

(If I were like that, I would have killed myself already.)

He whispered this, but she still managed to hear him.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm weaker than you. I wouldn't even be able to stop you from breaking my arm if you wanted to."

He used the little spark of lightning to attack the girl, and it just zapped her lightly, not causing any damage to her.

She looked at him with surprise, and now realizing what she was doing, she released her grip on his arm.

The look on her face changed to that of a normal person; there was no contempt or resentment toward him anymore.

"I see, there's someone like me on that side too. Well, I'm still stronger than you physically, but your magic is lacking, just like mine. It's bad for a faction that mainly fights using magic, isn't it?"

Reon grabbed his arm and rubbed the part that was squeezed.

"It is. I've been doing everything I could to improve it, but there have been no improvements. I've lost hope since then."

The defeated expression on his face caught the girl's attention.

"Lost hope? Why? Toward what? Do you have something you want to do badly? Who are you anyway, the son of the angel leader? As if."

With a sigh, Reon looked down.

"The fact that my father didn't even announce I was his son only proves how well I am seen, isn't it?"

Realizing that she had inadvertently insulted the son of the other faction, she frowned.

"No joke? What about me? You've heard about me, right?"

"I have no idea who you are. I've never heard of the demon leader having a daughter."

She was speechless. She had an inkling why she wasn't announced either, but she felt bitter nevertheless.

"I'm Orianne. Well, nice to meet you, Reon."

"Yes, Reon. Nice to meet you."

The girl grabbed his arm once again and dragged him into the garden where she was training before.

"Tell me, what do you think of my fire? I've never had the opinion of an angel before."

Still in shock, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"It's too wild."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah-"

He quickly placed his hands on his mouth and tried to avoid her glare.

"No, I'm sorry. I asked for your opinion... I shouldn't get angry. What did you mean by that?"

Reon looked at her and took it upon himself to correct his mistake.

"I've watched it, and so far, it is too condensed. You cannot shape your magic as you would want because you seem to input too much power at one point."

She tilted her head while putting a finger under her mouth.

"That's complicated. Do you mean I've just been releasing too much magic?"

Orianne formed a ball of fire in her hand. She played with it and focused more than usual to find the right amount of energy output, but she failed.

"This is harder than I thought. I see what you meant. It's like a faucet filling a balloon. If you don't cut the water, the balloon just gets filled, and you cannot play with it before it ruptures."

Confused, Reon pondered.

"I don't know about that image, but that should be accurate for you."

"Show me your lightning magic, and maybe I can give you advice too."

Flustered, he shook his hands in front of her.

"You don't have to, really. There's nothing to see either! I've already shown everything earlier."

"Wait, that small spark was everything?"

"Yes... it was."

Reon turned his face in shame.

"I doubt that's all there is. Are you scared of your own magic? I never heard of something like this, but it's possible it happens, right?"

Hearing her speak so confidently about his struggles, something began to click in his head.

"I'm scared? Of lightning? Is that even a reason to be this powerless?"

They stared at each other before Orianne thought about the miraculous training that would help him.

"Why don't you just shock yourself over and over again until you're not scared anymore?"

Orianne smiled brightly, putting Reon in a bad spot.

"What?"

—

"Wait, father, you feared your own magic? Is that even possible?"

In disbelief, Orion stared at his father with his mouth agape.

"It seems like it. She managed to find my problem instantly. This girl gave me valuable advice, which the other adults didn't even bother to give. She also improved on my advice after I left, which gave us more opportunities to see each other."

This was the story of his meeting with Orianne, which brought back fond memories for him.

"Each time, we observed each other's abilities and gave advice to each other, leading to how I and your mother are today. We were still doing it before you were born."

With a nod, Orion asked another question.

"You still didn't say why you were ashamed of it, though?"

His father stopped walking, and he turned his face to the side.

"Isn't it shameful to have improved so much just to see a woman more often? At one point, I couldn't care less about being the next leader. I was simply fine being next to her."

"We grew to become the strongest in our factions, and we even brought peace to them."

Scratching his temple, he smiled bitterly.

"But that wasn't even a thing in my mind. I didn't want you to think less of me."