“Cal. Do you remember when we were twelve? How one day I decided to switch to a different room so I could sleep by myself?”

“Yeah… What about it?”

“Were you… I don’t know, sad or anything when I did that?”

“You’re asking me now? We’re turning fifteen next week, I’m way past things like that.”

“So, you were ok?”

“...”

“Cal?”

“Hand me that trowel please.”

“Wha– Ignored!?”

“Sh-Shut up! I was perfectly fine! Just give me that trowel!”

Calista is tending to a flower bed within the Ironhill gardens. This is the same area of the garden where Alaric, as a toddler, regained his memories of his life as Orion. Recently, Calista had taken very well to gardening and decided to plant her own flower bed in an empty spot here. Today, she is planting a new series of blue flag iris buds.

“Sigh… Fine, fine, sorry for bringing it up.” Alaric says, getting up from his bench to hand her the trowel. Cal looks at him for a few seconds.

“Why… No, nevermind.” She returns to her planting.

“What?”

“...Why did you so abruptly do that, anyways? Just one day, out of the blue you decided to sleep in a different room.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just a matter of growing up. But, well, that’s not really what I wanted to talk about with you.”

“Oh? What, you were breaking the ice with something silly?”

“Something like that. Cal… the aptitude ceremony is next week.”

“Yeah. I’m glad I reached Asthenos before the day, I was always worried my potential would be too low or something.”

“That can be discouraging, really. But… I already know exactly what your aptitude is.”

“What? No, you don’t.”

“I can’t explain how I’ve figured it out but I did figure it out. I’ve been helping with your mana training for years, you know? I definitely know what it is.”

“Oh, yeah, you have been checking my mana every so often. What is it then?”

“...Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll learn next week, but I wouldn’t mind knowing now.”

“You’re sure? Things will change once you know, Calista…”

Alaric’s voice becomes serious. Calista stops her gardening to look towards him. She can see his worry.

“Hmph. Don’t call me, Calista… Just say it. Here, I’ll even raise a sound barrier.”

Calista touches the jade pendant around her neck, imbuing it with mana. A light blue glow surrounds the pendant as the ambient sounds of the estate, and Prelic outside the estate’s walls, disappear. Calista sits down beside Alaric on the bench, bringing him into her sound barrier’s range.

Alaric takes a deep breath.

“...Cal, your core is a grade 14.”

“...Oh.”

“You believe me?”

“If you’re playing a trick on me, I won’t be speaking to you until the ceremony.”

“I’m not, I’m not. What I’m saying is true.”

“That’s…” Calista stares forward aimlessly as she digests Alaric’s words.

There are very few in the world and across this, the Aethron continent, with grade 14 cores, even among the nobility. There is one every generation, sometimes two or three.

(The rarest Ensoarcs, those with grade 15 cores, appear every thousand years, and each have the absolute potential to become lesser gods in the Exos realm. Ensoarcs of Cal’s grade and above can build their own nation, if allowed to prosper. This kind of unveiling to the family…)

“You understand what can happen, right, Cal? You’re… about to become the most important member of the family. With you leading the family, there’s no telling what could happen.”

Alaric looks at her face, only to see a mask of coldness.

“...I see.”

“Mother won’t be able to touch you. In fact, if you ask to be separated from her, Father would make that happen. You would be able to–”

“Stop.” Calista looks at Orion with sharp eyes. “...If I’m a grade 14, then what are you?”

“Huh?”

“I know. I know you’ve reached Asthenos, Al.”

“What do you–”

In the corner of Orion’s eye, he perceives Calista’s fist careening towards his head. He just barely dodges, scrambling off the bench and raising his guard. Her sound barrier dissipates as she loses focus on supplying her pendant with mana.

“C-Cal, what are you–”

“You dare deny it!”

Cal rushes towards him, sending a right chop towards his shoulder. Alaric is unsure what’s going on, but he dodges as best he can. The side of her hand wearing cloth gardening gloves digs into the solid pink brick of the garden pathway.

“...A normal teenager wouldn’t be able to react to my speed. I wasn’t holding back. At all.”

(...Oh fuck.)

“Th-That’s not–”

“You did it. You really went and ascended. You’ve already reached Asthenos, Al! Yet, you kept hiding it from me! What did I do to you? Why are you making fun of me? Why are you putting me through this humiliation!?”

“Cal, calm down, calm down.”

“Now you’re telling me that I’m a grade 14? Me, a grade 14!? Then what are you!?”

“I-I’m–”

“You’re still better than me and you’re still treating me like a child! Are you trying to make me feel better for not being able to catch up to you? I’m going to become the most important member of the family? Father’s going to listen to me? Stop spewing bullshit!”

“...”

Tears start to roll down Calista’s cheeks.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Her twin brother has only ever radiated care and affection towards her. He has helped her train in martial arts and magic, and taught her things about the wide world neither her tutors nor mother would teach.

But, she still felt inadequate. Her brother has always been better than her, always stronger and faster, better in all aspects of magic and martial arts. She would have been happy just following after him.

(But, then I reached Asthenos and finally surpassed you. I really thought that was how it was, that I had gained at least one victory, until… we sparred. You tried to pretend as if you were being overwhelmed, as if you were far inferior to my new strength and speed, but… I could see through your lies.)

Calista’s newly enhanced senses were able to catch his movements better than ever before. She realized in that spar that Alaric was still holding back against her. She “won” that fight, and he looked as if pushed to his “limits”, but he was still holding back.

(It was humiliating but who could I tell?)

Somehow, prior to her and without even telling her, Alaric had reached Asthenos. She was able to confirm it thoroughly today as well, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

(Why would you treat me like I’m a little kid? Did you think I couldn’t handle it? That I would push myself too hard or feel inadequate? Well, now I really feel inadequate, you jerk!)

“...You’re a grade 15, aren’t you?”

This is the conclusion she has come to as a result. Her brother, who is better than her in everything, having already reached Asthenos before her, maybe even when he was 13, could not be inferior to her in core aptitude. If she was a grade 14, then he had to be a grade 15, or otherwise a grade 14 as well.

Calista looks Alaric straight in his eyes, waiting for him to respond. However, Alaric’s face that had a serious expression until earlier looks at her completely dumbfounded.

“What?”

“What?”

“No, I’m asking you, Cal. I’m not a grade 15, or even grade 14 or 13.”

“But… B-But, you already reached Asthenos before I did! You’re not going to lie about that, are you!?”

“...No, you’re right, I did reach Asthenos. I did, and… I’m sorry for keeping it from you. I… wanted to hide it from the family but, even if I didn’t tell father or mother, I should have at least told you. I’m sorry.”

“...”

Orion paces back and forth in the garden, realizing that his sister is even sharper than he had previously assumed. He sighs in dejection, ironically feeling inferior to her, a real inborn genius. (She’s even better than I thought. If she had been the one going to the river to absorb the corrupted life mana over the past three years, she would already have become high Lithos… This conversation took a bad turn and I didn’t even get to the main point yet..)

Calista looks at Alaric with a wary, curious expression.

“I’m… I’m sorry for not telling you. It wasn’t because I was making fun of you or sparing your feelings, I just didn’t tell anyone. No, we’ll talk about that another time. Cal, I’ll cut to what I really want to say. You are a grade 14 and this new position comes with obligations, risks and dangers. You will face trials that I… don’t think you need to face.”

“...What do you–”

“Cal… You deserve a better life than this. A much better one than this wretched family can provide. Let’s… Let’s leave. Together. Let’s run away.”

—

Calista and Alaric are walking side by side in luxurious garb. The core aptitude ceremony is today, right now in fact. The twins walk into an auditorium where, raised on a platform, the Ironhill family waits.

Calista is wearing a luxurious indigo dress, crafted from layers of indigo tulle that give it volume and a dreamy appearance. The bodice and the off-shoulder sleeves are intricately embroidered with silver, depicting scenes from Ironhill family history. Tiny, enchanted gemstones woven into the embroidery flicker with inner light.

Meanwhile, Alaric is wearing a traditional suit made of indigo velvet. It includes a high-necked, fitted jacket with intricate silver threadwork along the collar, cuffs, and down the center. The jacket is paired with matching velvet trousers and a waistcoat adorned with polished sapphire buttons. The cost of both outfits, each boasting the Indigo color of the Ironhill crest, is exorbitant.

Calista considers the conversation she and her brother had a week ago as she and Alaric walk towards the auditorium’s center.

(He was so worried about what the Viscount would do… How mother and father would both try to use me for the household. How other noble families, even the royal family, would target me. ‘I don’t want you to feel that kind of burden. You deserve freedom’, he said. It… It makes me happy to see how much he cares about me. He really wants me to be happy.)

Alaric and Calista stand before their father, Edom Ironhill. To his left is a man that the two children don’t recognize, along with Edom’s brothers, the one administrating the city’s plantation and the one next to him administrating the entire Ironhill territory’s mining operations.

Edom’s gray eyes stare imperiously at both Alaric and Calista. They’ve both trained in proper noble etiquette and ceremony. Calista knew not to avert her eyes or appear weak in front of someone like their father.

The twins kneel. With her head down, Calista’s eyes stare directly at Alaric beside her, feeling guilty for not taking him up on his offer.

She could not accept his plan. It would have been paradise to escape the problems she would face. There she was, presented with a strong, though risky, solution to everything, alongside him, the only member of her family who didn’t treat her as a convenient pawn, but…

(...But I can’t just abandon the territory. Not after everything Father is doing to make the lives of the people here worse.)

The man next to Edom steps forward, a mage wearing a long flowing robe and holding a cross-shaped staff.

(I’m not the same person I was once when I was young, Al. I’m not someone who will just sit and take what mother gives out now. You taught me to fend for myself against her and… I can withstand her malice much better now. It’s all because of you.)

Without saying anything, the mage walks towards Calista first, her position several feet to Orion’s left. As he walks holding his staff, a choir of bass singers standing at the edges of the auditorium starts chanting.

(If I really am a grade 14, then shouldn’t I set my sights as high as I can? With the new strength I have thanks to you, how can I put all the help you’ve given me to waste? If I did that, I would be just like father and mother…)

The man raises the cross-shaped staff over Calista, who is now staring at the device with slight distaste. The artifact is then turned so that the Viscount’s viewing gallery as well as Alaric can all see the results. On the staff, there were several closed eyelids.

(Once this man and his eyeball cross makes the truth clear, I will be given tremendous power. I could assume command over the Ironhill territory. I could become duchess. With you by my side, Al, shouldn’t I make the most of this future?)

Within seconds, an eyelid opens on the left most side of the staff’s crosspiece. Eyelids keep opening until all ten eyes on the crosspiece are fully open. Then slowly, one eye at the lowest spot of the cross’s upright post opens.

(So, I can’t run away, Al. I can’t just leave. I can’t just play my part and allow things to continue as they’ve been. You’ve taken me to the city enough to know that’s not an option. I’m about to be given an opportunity and I can’t squander it.)

The second eye opens.

(But… Al said he’s not grade 15. He’s not grade 14 or 13 either. How amazing is his innate talent to be able to reach Asthenos before me?)

At this point there are gasps among the family standing to the sides of Edom as the third eye opens.

(He never explained anything to me about it. When is he going to tell me why he kept things a secret? And why…)

Calista considers the look on her brother’s face prior to the ceremony, the gift he had given her for the ceremony, and the letter he wanted her to read afterwards. He looked… a bit too calm.

(Even now, I still can’t read him. He was really… Huh?)

Calista notices the overbearing silence. Everyone is holding their breath, as something unprecedented is happening.

The fourth eye opens.

All ten eyes on the cross piece and four eyes on the upright post of the cross artifact are open. The fifteenth eye remains closed and all the opened eyes start shining.

“It is done.” The man holding the staff proclaims, his voice slightly shaking. “Calista Ironhill, daughter of Edom and Clementine Ironhill, has been blessed with a Tesseract aptitude. Grade… 14.”

Everyone starts clapping. The Viscount and his brothers have smiles on their faces, Clementine Ironhill, their mother, is joyous while the first wife and the concubines have unreadable expressions.

(Hmph. Of course he wasn’t wrong. If Al says that I’m a grade 14, then I’m a grade 14. I never once doubted it!)

As the applause dies down, the mage holding the cross staff starts walking over to Alaric. The Viscount family is talking amongst themselves about what this new future would hold now that they have someone like Calista within their family.

(Now then… What is your aptitude, Al? I don’t know why you kept it a secret but you can’t hide from me this time!)

The Ironhill family on the raised platform becomes silent as the mage moves his staff to evaluate Alaric, the sister of this incredible prodigy. Their hopes are high for a second genius.

(Though, aptitude isn’t everything anyways. Natural talent can make up for it. I don’t know the reason why you’ve kept your Asthenos a secret, but after today, I’m going to make sure the whole family knows how amazing you are! The higher grade me should be the magnanimous one!)

Calista watches the display of the staff artifact with a wide smile. One eye opens. Then another one. It is only after the third eye opens that Calista’s expression drops.

After the third eye on the crosspiece opens, the eyes start to shine white. No more eyes open.

The chanting choir abruptly stops. The family has their eyes widened, Clementine Ironhill in particular gasping in horror. Calista cannot make sense of this. This moment feels like a nightmare to her.

(Wait… But… he already reached Asthenos.)

Calista wanted to stand tall and shout this to the entire auditorium in this moment of tense silence. She grits her teeth, looking at the despicable cross.

(Th-The test has to be a lie. There was no way that a fifteen year old with that aptitude could reach Asthenos. This c-can’t–!)

However, she sees Alaric’s eyes staring at her calmly, telling her not to say a word. This is the moment when Calista’s blood runs cold, realizing what is about to happen to her brother. What he knew would happen.

The mage on his part tries the artifact once more. Then once more again. The results are unchanging. He delivers the verdict.

“It is done…” The man holding the staff proclaims bitterly. “Alaric Ironhill, son of Edom and Clementine Ironhill, has been blessed with an Arc aptitude. Grade… 3.”