What the fuck was that? It felt so... strange. The mana was cancelled out, so the spell decayed into nothingness. But why did it feel so weird?

Sin walked over to Rai, who was still somewhat shocked that it even worked.

“What did you do Rai?” She asked him.

“... I cancelled out the spell, I think.”

“Why did it feel so weird to me? Like a part of myself disappeared.” The last part was chilling.

Rai broke out of his daze at her words.

“It did?” He thought for a moment after she nodded. “Maybe it’s because you had a link to that spell... it’s different to other types of spells that get shot off without any constant link to the caster.”

“I see, so even though the clones only take the initial mana to summon and don’t drain any more mana, they’re still linked to me?”

“I think so. It would make sense, since you can control them mentally, and probably will be able to do even more with them as you get used to the spell.”

“I see...” Sin whispered under her breath. She only just realised the achievement that Rai’d accomplished right in front of her. “Wait, you just cancelled out a whole spell? Just by overwhelming it with more mana and a reverse flow?”

Rai looked like a puppy who just got a treat for behaving well.

“I did! I can’t believe it worked on the first try. Oh, I wanted you to test it too! It felt really simple to me, so I wondered why no one else even tried to use a spell like this.”

Ding.

“It’s because of your mental clarity Rai.”

The two turned to see Kallad walking over to them.

“I asked Lilly, and she said you two were down here, so this is where I came.” Kallad said in response to the looks he got from the two of them.

“What do you mean by ‘mental clarity’?”

Kallad stared blankly at the boy. Somehow Rai constantly missed the answer that was right in front of him.

“Didn’t your aunt tell you, boy? You can see mana with a clarity that no one else can. For everyone else it’s like they have to push through a muddy ocean and try to find single fish within. But for you, the water is clear, and it guides you directly towards the fish.” His tone shifted to something much heavier. “Where did you learn that technique?”

Rai could tell that Kallad wasn’t joking around, but he couldn’t just tell him about the books now... but Kallad was understanding back then, so Rai felt like he could trust Kallad with this.

“I... found it in a book...”

Kallad eyed him suspiciously.

“Is that it? A technique that powerful was just laying around in a tome?”

“No... not exactly. The mechanism was theoretical, so it wasn’t a tome. It was more like a book that explained the theory, and then I tried to figure it out. Hence why the spell... well... worked.”

“I see... A mage’s books are his lifeblood, so I won’t ask where you found it or for you to hand it over... just be careful about the book and the technique. Don’t let that book fall into anyone else’s hands, and don’t use the technique on anyone you don’t actually need to use it on. It’s a simple power, but it’s far too powerful to be used willy nilly.”

Rai let out a soft sigh of relief. For some reason, whenever Kallad confronted him like this, he always felt a pang of anxiety. He’d felt like he’d done something wrong, but every time Kallad found a way to make light of the situation, so Rai didn’t feel that way afterwards. His trust in Kallad grew stronger.

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Sin didn’t know much about this book business, but she really wanted to hug her father after all this time. So she ran up to him and did so.

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you since the entrance exam day!” Sin was used to seeing her father often, so she always felt his absence when he wasn't there.

“Why does it seem like you’ve grown even more during these last two weeks?” He asked her.

“It’s a lady’s secret!”

“Of course. Worry not, the king shall let the princess do as she wishes. About where I’ve been... I’ve had clan business to attend to. There have been many meetings between the Aspects. You know, those meetings that you always hated so much.”

“Well, I'm glad I wasn’t there then!”

“These meetings concern the Life clan as well Rai. They’ve been losing political power among the clans by the day.”

“I don’t quite see why you’re telling me this.” Rai replied coldly.

Kallad stood for a moment. In front of him was a boy that had only just enrolled in school, but he might also be the key to preserving his clan.

“Rai, I’m curious. Would you fight for your clan? To defend them in their entirety?”

What the... “That’s a heavy question Kallad.” Rai couldn’t answer with any absolutes. The idea of fighting for his clan wasn’t something he was inherently opposed to, but then words of his mother came to mind.

“I wouldn’t. I would fight to defend those I care about, but to fight for the whole clan when I have no attachment to most of the people in it... That would be foolish of me.”

Sin couldn’t quite comprehend the full implications of the conversation, but she knew that Rai wouldn’t make any decisions about something so important haphazardly. In fact, she somewhat agreed with Rai’s viewpoint.

“I see. I respect your position.” Kallad said. He thought for a few more moments, wondering whether he should let Rai know of the details. The meetings with the other Aspects weren’t to be spoken about to anyone outside of the Aspect's circle, but Kallad didn’t care about such a rule. Still, Rai was much too young to bear the burden that Kallad would put on him by talking about it.

It was still too early to do so.

“Very well, forget about this conversation. Let’s go back up to the suite.”

After the conversation ended, the three of them went back up to the penthouse.

The first thing Rai wanted to do was figure out a name for the new technique. He didn’t have many techniques of his own, but the act of naming one made them feel unique to him.

“There used to be an ancient band of sorcerers who specialised in anti-magic. That technique you’re using is the same thing that they used. They called it Antithesis. It’s a forbidden tier technique.” Kallad said.

The air grew thin. Even the mention of a forbidden technique was harrowing for Kallad, but the fact that Rai figured out how to use one was even more worrying.

Rai, however, knew no better. Antithesis, what a fitting name!

“Thanks Kallad, that’s the perfect name for the technique. What were these ‘ancient sorcerers’ that you mentioned called?” Clearly, Kallad was the only one in the room feeling the weight of Rai’s unlocking of a forbidden technique.

Kallad was terrified beneath the mask of indifference that he so often wore.

“You don’t need to know. You’d do well to avoid thinking about or mentioning the ancients beyond this, boy.” His voice was harsh, much harsher than Rai expected.

“Yes sir.” He wasn’t sure why Kallad was so scared of the ancients, but Rai was curious to learn more about them and this forbidden technique that he’d stumbled upon.

“I need help naming my technique as well!” Sin said.

Kallad relished the opportunity to move past the conversation about the ancients. But... this wasn’t the direction that he’d imagined the conversation steering towards at first. Kallad stared at Sin, dumbfounded.

“You name your techniques?”

“Well, no. But I want to!” Sin said with a pout.

“Hmm. Alright then. Let’s logic it out. Your technique is a cloning one, and is based off mirror magic. Why not call it Mirror clone?”

Sin stared deadpan at her father.

“That’s the worst name I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

Kallad acted like he’d been shot in the chest.

“Oh how horrid! You wound me, dear daughter!”

Sin rested her chin in her palm while she thought.

“It’s the worst name ever, but it’s also the most fitting. I guess I’ll name it that for now while I try to figure out something else.”

Rai decided to excuse himself, since he wanted to test Antithesis out a bit more. He made his way back to the lift and went to the sparring area once more.

He tested out the ancients' spell. First, Rai conjured elements in one hand, and used antithesis in the other hand to negate them. Rai wanted to know just how far he could effectively use Antithesis, so he shot fireballs across the field and tested to see how far away a spell could be for him to negate it. Antithesis worked when casting it from one end of the room on a spell at the other end of the room, and it would still come into effect practically instantly. Even though Rai modelled it like a projectile, it was like the spell refused to be one and acted on its own.

This is such an amazing spell! Who on Zenith wrote that book... Rai thought back to the books, remembering that he had another one to read through. Though, it would probably be better to save it for another time and focus on mastering Antithesis. The anti-magic spell would cost a lot of mana if he had to negate a huge spell, since he had to use double the mana of the target spell’s approximate mana cost. It was only effective because Rai had a lot of mana available to him, even with only a tenth of his mana released, which was the amount he often used to train with.

After finishing his testing of the technique to satisfaction, Rai returned to the penthouse and went straight to his bedroom to sleep, ignoring Sin who was sat on the couch watching the crystalakrum.

He was completely knackered.