"You two are ridiculous, you know?" Muttered Keryzn as he softly glared at the two of them. "I have all but given up concealing you guys after all these stunts."

Rae continued irritably, "you two might be interested in all these battles and such, but not here! I've already had to repair these stairs fourteen times. Why... how in the hell can you have such hard heads?"

Leya pointed to Andrew indifferently, "his fault."

"Liar. Yours."

Sparks seemed to fly in-between the two of them. However, Rae and Keryzn simply could not find a chance to break their glare with words alone. Instead, a well-practised, simple look brought two hands to flick the two harshly.

They were now more than aware of the influences of the drained mana pool so they wore unyielding looks as they questioned. "Head-ache? Certainly, normal training wouldn't do that anymore, right?"

Andrew coughed and scratched his head. Leya smacked his arm and hissed. "You're too obvious."

"The cover was blown the second you spoke," growled Andrew in an angry hiss.

"Stupid mongrel. Don't tell me I did it when you're obviously so bad at acting!"

"Seriou- owe!"

The two of them were thoroughly captured by Rae's eyes and brought to sit on the living room table. The non-linear manipulation aspect was the hardest to master, but the two of them managed to complete it with a very small efficiency rating. In fact, the table itself was a work in progress by Andrew as he tried to carve more elaborate designs into the four stone table legs and surface.

He looked aghast at the central image, "who destroyed my great Demon Lord!?"

Keryzn eyed Leya, who happened to be in his grasp, "did you?"

"Ahem, ahem," coughed Leya. "I would never ruin such a disgusting, grisly, disgusting looking monster with wind magic."

"You said disgusting twice! It was beautiful. Hell, you made some repulsive angel thing. Who cares if you have wings? It is the most useless thing ever."

"What?! It had wings too!"

Andrew grinned victoriously and turned to Keryzn. "See? She admitted it. She ruined the great, demonic, horned and winged Demon of the Fang house-hold!"

Rae grumbled and pinched his ear harder. "It's over. We told you to stop making and bringing toys inside. Actually, you were the one who broke the original table!"

Andrew waved it off. "But this... well, was," casting a glare towards Leya. "This is a one-of-a-kind item. Worth hundreds of... somethings! Sorry that little Leya just knows how to break things."

Leya scoffed loudly, "I seem to recall you torched it to try to find flames of hell. Purgatory or something, you mentioned."

Andrew was about to speak when Rae interrupted. "Geez, calm down. I would say you're like fire and water, but now that's not even the case anymore, is it? Anyways, Dear, mind telling them the good news?"

Keryzn separated the two of them before any more conflict could arise and stood in between.

"You are of age, so it's time to go to school. There are plenty of things to learn, but as it stands, we'll be moving to Asponth in a few weeks. Theta isn't bad, but it would not be able to provide too much. Primary school is set, but you'll have to decide what path-"

"Magic and Swords!"

"Magic and Swords! And Demons!"

Keryzn wasn't fazed when it came Leya's choice. Andrew's was a little more curious. However, there was still a few years of primary school before they would even be expected to be where they were already at.

Nevertheless, Keryzn nodded and continued, "fine. School first then we'll deal with the rest."

Andrew looked up thoughtfully and asked, "where do we stack up around?"

Leya looked in surprised before she, too, nodded.

Keryzn sent a glance towards Rae who shrugged lightly. "Advance perhaps, but only because of the mana pools. Even techniques are somewhat... shallow. At least compared to true Mages."

Andrew's eyes burned with a strange light before he looked directly towards Leya. She returned the glance and both nodded simultaneously.

"Minions?" Murmured Andrew.

"Minions."

A hearty grin appeared on their face and they already began playing out how they would start new battles of supremacy. Training others, influences, money, or even through their future minions. The two parents exhaled sharply and turned back towards one another.

The old woman was still in the background and laughed quietly.

"The only thing more annoying that them fighting against one another would be for them to work with each other. The cardinal rule, you two?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Fifteen!" Called the two in unison.

The two parents were confused, but the old woman cackled. "Very well, not before then. And remember, you are brother and sister."

They shared a look of disgust, firstly with the old woman, before it turned on the other.

In truth, they were very similar. They had their father's blond hair, mother's gentle face, and were nearly the same height. Currently, Andrew had the lead, if only by half a centimeter, but he knew Leya would win in the short-term. The only odd thing was that they had their mother's light brown eyebrows underneath their blonde hair.

Beyond that, they were identical, save for the gender.

And opinions regarding world dominance.

After hearing as such, Keryzn and Rae wore wry smiles. They never knew what was going on their minds in particular, but the competitive spirit was no doubt omnipresent.

"You two," murmured Rae. "On the journey to Asponth, there'll be no fighting, arguments, or anything else, okay? There will be a lot of other people there so you have to keep that in mind."

Andrew coughed and averted his gaze. When it finally lingered on the old woman, he noticed a small wink. Suddenly his attitude became respectful and he offered a small bow to his mother.

"Of course. How could I, Andrew of the Fang clan, be of such little bearing? I would never fight that bi- ... I would never fight my sister on such a journey."

"Likewise," spoke Leya solemnly. "To think that you'd consider us enemies is truly beyond me."

Leya wrapped her arm playfully around Andrew's neck and the two laughed in unison. Steam erupted from their backs as fire and ice clashed on their arms. Fighting to burn and freeze the other.

"They're getting pretty good at manipulating it," whispered the old woman to herself.

Keryzn pulled them apart and sighed. "I know it won't happen, but no prying eyes. Or I will send each of you on explorations with the town guards. I heard Marthin was recently excavated..."

Leya paled and stuttered, "ah, no! Disgusting camp-life?! Ahem, no. No such thing will happen. We'll be on our best behavior... Rotting monsters..."

"What is there- oh... you'd send us to a dungeon?! While that might be cool... Father! Horrible parenting skills!"

Keryzn shrugged and let out a small grin. "You already made half the guard recruits lose face. Anyways, Lupis will be guiding them later. I'm sure they could use an extra hand."

Andrew stiffened and hid behind his mother. Leya already claimed her right leg so he took the left. However, with it, it allowed for an easy reach around to their ears. Even as they plead, Keryzn and Rae did not bother to do much else than lay the ground rules towards the two.

After they were released back into their room, Andrew and Leya sat cross-legged in front of one another.

"So, Andrew," spoke Leya seriously. "We've been in this world for awhile. I know your plans, but I refuse to allow you do that - again! However, for the time being we need to find a cover."

"Minions - we need minions," spoke Andrew. "At least someone to take the blame for killing you later. Dark minion, earth minion, ice minion, and fire minion. You can have the same with yours. However..."

"They need to be loyal. They can't snitch."

"Therefore, we can use bloo-"

"No blood-magic!"

"Uhm, fine. Be that way. It still isn't ready yet anyways," pouted Andrew. "Hey, Leya..."

Seeing a faint smile on his face, Leya instinctively scowled. "What?"

"How do you feel about taking over a school? We can split up the classes in half then we'll have plenty of minions."

"Are you trying to get me involved with this world domination scheme," growled Leya. "You know I won't have a part of that."

"You know, it is just to... confirm our powers. Yeah, that! But to do that we need to train! I will make the King release his throne to me... you can have the East and I'll have the West like old times... stupid, uncouth guerillas with their guerilla warfare..."

Leya smacked him on the head and grunted, "no world domination - bad!"

"Fine, fine. We... threat- owe, don't hit me! Ahem, we manage to kill a corrupt king... and a few more adjacent ones - definitely because they, ahem, 'bad' - to build a flourishing empire of happy-go-lucky people?"

"With or without shackles on their feet?" Spoke Leya seriously.

"Without obviously," scoffed Andrew. "When I have bloo- owe! Corrupt kings, reclaiming territories for people - whatever! In ten more years or so we can start a big fight! This is just a small kingdom so let's use two others to act as puppets!"

Leya hit him again then a bright light appeared to hide the evidence. "No puppets or manipulating people. Slavery is bad, so are puppet governments."

Andrew harumphed loudly, "you don't even know. It is the most cost eff- owe! Fine. No slavery. Maids?"

Leya held a pensive glance before finally nodding. Andrew inwardly rejoiced before being hit once more.

"Not like that. If we do this, we do it right."

"One-half faces utter peace and tranquility and the other are all under my iron - don't hit me. Geez, just a joke... kind of... as long as they aren't saints... I can snatch it all up..."

Leya snorted and said nothing else.

'Either way, I still will have to get to at least Grand Magnus. But... that involves practiced manipulation rather than direct spells.'

He had already a fair grasp with it because of his work with control the shadowy fog. So while the two contemplated, Andrew caused the fog to roll around him. In moments, he and Leya were covered. However, the light soon appeared as well.

The gray fog darkened to black and began to battle for control with the light. Then the fog, once more, dulled to gray, as the light faded. This went on for a short while as the two tried to read each other's expressions. No matter what, they were not even able to wrench off the opaque mask they wore. It would mean defeat, loosely speaking. In fact, Andrew and Leya wore only a seemingly solid mask as soon as the two elements fled.

"You take ice this time," offered Leya.

Andrew nodded and the two elements shuddered into existence. They were already drained, but neither would show it on their faces. Only the narrowing of the other's eyes - as seen through the tiny slits to measure the opponent - allowed them to gloat for a single second before they concentrated on their own elements.

This time is was far, far harder to control. Originally, modifying their spells did not seem to work; however, as soon as Leya wore a cloak of flames, Andrew felt a chill run down his spine. As the flames approached Andrew, he panicked and tried to release as much of his mana as he could to try to force the reaction.

And it worked. A frigid dusting of snow and ice surrounded him as they slowly approached on another. Since they were not nearly as easy as light and darkness, the two were constantly forced to maintain and reform their elements. By the time they switched, Andrew was able to form a stream of fire, but his vision soon drifted dark.

"Finis," murmured Andrew.

However, the spell did not work. The flames were birthed from magic, but it was no spell. Instead, the flames singed the floor and room's temperature soared.

'Water bolt, water bolt, water bolt,' recited Andrew rapidly before unconsciousness finally overtook him.

Leya's expression was one of surprise and panic, but Andrew's flames were extinguished at the expense of a rapid chill in the air. Yet, one of the bolts was instinctively launched at her as well.

Even with the dull impact, she was forced into sleep as well. The dusting of snow and ice she wore, immediately glistened like diamonds that bounded towards him, gripped onto their body as the two shut-down.