Authors note: This and the next chapter are a little bit different. I need to go through many perspectives of many characters. However, before I put every little event into an entire chapter and fill it with useless fluff, I decided to go through them in two chapters. The changing perspectives could be a little annoying, but I think you will like it. Just see it as many little chapters.

The following events happened in the weeks following Ocilia's visit with Alexander.

...

General Training Grounds, Leonandra Estate

"Come on, stand up."

Lorient was lying on the ground, feeling a sense of peace. The training grounds around her looked horrendous and emitted enough demonic miasma to poison greenhorn soldiers. This was why it was empty since they used it.

However, as she heard her Mother speaking, she slowly stood up, covered in dust and dirt. She was battered and wheezing, barely able to catch any air. Yet, she never ceased to stare at her Mother before her, who stood as always, stoically, staring her down.

She immediately used her energy and slowly enveloped her hands and feet with it. For her, it looked beautiful when it spread over her skin, becoming a layer, like gloves and shoes, far from what she had done before, which was clumsy at best.

For the last months, her whole training was getting the hang of her demonic energy by training her mind, as otherwise, control would be impossible. When she commanded it to do what she wanted, it became unruly, like a rebellious puppy not wanting to eat vegetables, always trying to break out into something much more destructive.

When done and looking proudly at her work, her Mother immediately crushed her ego, "Too slow. The Leonandra [Divinity Line] is one of instant destruction. However, the strength is that your ancestors could quickly bring forward this destruction and control it."

Lorient looked at her, annoyed, "Mom, you have the Nine-Fire [Divinity Line]. Do you know how hard it is to control mine?!"

From the side came a chuckle, "Oh my. How interesting..." Looking where it came from, she immediately gulped, seeing that it was her Grandmother, "...you see, she maybe doesn't know it, but I do."

After saying it, her Grandmother immediately let her energy escape, transforming into a cute little bunny before her, jumping around. Yet, it felt murderous, and every time it landed after a hop, the ground cracked, creating a small crater. The moment it turned its head toward Lorient, she flinched, feeling how it could easily kill her.

Lorient took a step back, "Sure..."

The bunny slowly hoped toward Lorient, and her fear increased dramatically. Yet another energy came from the side, decapitating the cute and murderous ball of energy. Her Mother sounded annoyed, "Stop this nonsense. I hated it when you did it to me, and it never helped my training."

Her Grandmother looked at her Mother and smirked, "I beg to differ, Mari. You were always so joyful when training with it."

Her Mother frowned, "I wouldn't call it joyful when I had nightmares because of how it felt."

Lorient raised an eyebrow and immediately found it intriguing. She wanted the same extensive training as her siblings or parents at their time, but it was impossible since she first needed to train her mind, which was overly tedious, 'A chance to escape it!'

She cleared her throat, trying to calm down, "Ahem! I want to try this training method."

Her Mother frowned and said nothing, but her Grandmother became ecstatic, "Great! But don't be too frightened, Lori!"

Out of nowhere, multiple bunnies made out of energy appeared around her. The energy control was excellent, and they looked like living beings, even mimicking their breathing and nose movements. Yet, the illusion was quickly destroyed when they started to hop slowly toward her, their eyes glowing with an intent akin to a hunter, 'I think it was a mistake...'

"Evasion or hunting?" She looked towards her Grandmother, who gave her at least the option to choose. This was what she thought at first, at least.

Before she could choose, her Grandmother shook her head, "You know what? You are old enough for combat simulation. This game is only something for little pups."

Lorient was confused and only brought back by her Mother, sounding suddenly interested, "I would be careful, Lori. You can only destroy them with your energy. Don't even try to hit or defend against them without..." She sighed, "...it is not a bad training method, though."

Lorient didn't understand what to do till one of the bunnies jumped at high speeds at her. She immediately, by instinct, attacked it, crushing it. However, it wasn't the only one as another jumped at her sides, pushing all the air out of her lungs, "Urgh!"

BANG!

The force was incredible, and she flew to the side into some crates, crashing. After a moment, she thought that her bones broke, but she was okay, at most a bruise, 'What the...'

There was little time to check herself as she heard the ground cracking. Looking from the debris, she saw how the bunnies slowly hoped toward her, 'Not good...'

Even though she was scared shitless, it suddenly made her giddy, 'This is what I wanted!'

Standing up, she readied herself, smiling and enjoying it. As they came closer, she could hear her Mother and Grandmother talking with each other.

"She is different, much more daring than you, hehe."

"Every one of my pups is more daring than me."

"Oh, why do you think it is the case?"

"It's obviously my husband's fault."

This was the last thing she heard as they jumped at her from all angles and at speeds she could barely keep up. Yet, she had incredible fun while training.

...

Alexander's training room, Leonandra Estate

"You use too many of your skills for this, Mr. Narsiz."

"Saru, what do you mean with it?!"

Narsiz was staying, entirely covered in sweat, before his Father's retainer, with a bow in his hand and quiver strapped to the side. The arrows sticking out looked amateurish, which was also what it should be since they were made out of wood for training purposes.

They chose the training place of his little brother for multiple reasons. One was obviously convenience, and the other was that the site was wrecked, with the ground destroyed in certain places, spikes sticking out, or hills made out of dirt rendered it impossible to walk normally while puddles of water were everywhere. It was perfect for his archery and movement training.

Yet, even though he gave his all, somehow he couldn't land a single hit on Sarusos, who increasingly became more annoying, "Never follow the skills projection, but use it as a suggestion."

Narsiz was frustrated. For the last few days, all he did was shoot at Sarusos while trying to avoid his throwing knives. Even using all his luck-based skills, it was impossible to hit him. Now, Sarusos apparently found his problem and wanted to correct it, yet he didn't understand what he meant.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked tiredly, "I don't know what you mean by that I shouldn't follow the skill's projection."

Sarusos nodded and took a wooden knife, specially made for training, saying, "Use your [Dodging] skill to not get hit, Mr. Narsiz."

Narsiz was confused as to why he should do it. Yet, the moment he threw it at him without announcing, he obviously tried to use the skill and dodge it. It didn't work, and his shoulder got hit, although he should've avoided it since it was slow enough.

He looked at Sarusos dumbfounded, who only chuckled, "Hehe. It's easy, Mr. Narsiz. Skills are predictable, but if you work slightly against them, they wouldn't lead you anymore but only suggest what to do..."

Sarusos came to a rack and took a couple more training knives, "You see, if you try to aim at something, you use your skills and follow their lead. The ones who know how they work can avoid it if you also don't use other ones, which could also predict your opponent's mindset."

Narsiz frowned, slightly understanding him, "But this would drain my stamina too quickly. Thus, I need to work slightly against the skills and use my intuition, but how do I work against them?"

Sarusos cheekily smiled at him, "Well, Mr. Narsiz, if I go by what I saw with your siblings and how they broke the flow..." He readied himself, "...it was by brute forcing it, so please get ready."

Narsiz drew his bow and readied himself to dodge Sarusos's attacks, "Fine by me."

Days later

'Damn it!'

Narsiz stood full of bruises and out of stamina before Sarusos, who didn't even have a droplet of sweat on his forehead, 'This is bullshit! How do I break the flow?!'

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He slowly understood what Sarusos told him about a couple of days ago. Whenever he used the bow, the skill [Archery Arts] activated almost automatically and controlled his actions. Going against it felt wrong, almost dreadful. So he could only do it fully or not. There was no in-between for him.

Sarusos came over, smiling, "Well, are you ready for another round, Mr. Narsiz?"

He nodded and readied the training arrow into the bow, drawing it. Yet, he had barely any stamina left. So, the moment he pulled back, the skill activated. However, his concentration became unfixed, almost like he was in a trance as he fought against the pain he had from all the muscle aches.

The skill told him to aim in a specific direction, but because he wasn't fully there, he chose another one, close to the suggestion, that he found instinctively more promising. He let go and saw Sarusos throwing his knife at him while trying to avoid the arrow. He immediately used another skill, but again, he was too tired, and the skill usage became unfixed, only telling him a rough direction instead of the exact point it would hit. To avoid it, he used his intuition together with the skill.

For some reason, he could avoid the knife and heard a bumping sound, like hitting someone. He looked where Sarusos was and saw how he had a dusty spot on his thigh, 'I did it?!'

Sarusos looked back and smiled at him, "Perfect! We reached the point where the true training can start!"

Narsiz thought he didn't hear correctly, "Real training? I can barely stand..."

Yet Sarusos readied himself, sounding pleased, "Of course, Mr. Narsiz! Now you have reached the point where you use the skills in a better way, and we can't stop at such a precious time!"

Narsiz understood and readied his bow, not losing a single thought to anything else, as he was too tired for this. His only focus was to hit Sarusos while avoiding his dreaded knives, 'Let's go.'

For some reason, nothing happened, and Sarusos started to chuckle after some seconds, "Hehe. This also happened to Lorient. She stopped talking and couldn't distinguish her thoughts from speaking anymore..." His smile became more vicious, "...like I said, it is the perfect moment."

Narsiz felt his neck hair standing up, "I fucking hate this bastard."

"Hehe, this was your outer voice, Mr. Narsiz."

"I know."

...

Fitness Center, Leonandra Estate

"More weight!"

"Ms. Sarah, if we put more on, the bar will break!"

"Damn it!"

She put the bar down and stood up from the bench press, stretching. She was slowly getting frustrated as she couldn't train her body as well for a couple of days. While she loved the fitness center her little brother created with all the apparatuses, which focused her muscles precisely, it became too easy for her now.

The muscle aches she enjoyed were no more. The weights were too light, but she needed to train her body to get stronger because she wanted to be the frontline, never wavering and always staying. Besides that, her attributes increased after every one of her twelve-hour intensive training sessions, and she could barely walk the day after. However, with a bit of healing, she became fully fit and ready for another round, becoming stronger by the day.

While stretching, she thought intensely, 'I need Alex's help... damn.'

Sarah didn't want to stress him out, as she could feel his pain, which was horrendous, something that brought nightmares to her the days after. However, if she wanted to protect her family and household, she needed to get stronger, 'I hope it's some minuscule problem, and he won't need to work on it for weeks.'

Little later, Alexander's room

"Yeah, no shit, it's breaking. Putting half a ton on the bar is fucking insane in the first place."

Alexander was lying in bed and smirking, obviously making fun of her, 'He was much cuter a couple of years ago.'

Sarah remembered how unsure he always was and that he didn't know what and how to say something. It all changed over time, though. He became bold and probably let out his true personality, which reminded her of their Grandmother, only much ruder and less sophisticated.

However, he was also much more intelligent than her and obsessed with fixing everything. For now, she wouldn't tease him for his uncute behavior, as she needed him, "So? Can you do something?"

Alexander shook his tail, "Nope. As long as you don't get much better metals, it is impossible..." She sighed and was about to think of another training method to increase her strength when he suggested, "... so, just go to Aurum, ask him for gold, and buy the better materials."

Sarah tilted her head, "Wouldn't it be too expensive? I heard that a kg (2.2 lbs) of something like blue orachilum costs more than 100 large gold coins."

Alexander tilted his tail, "That's actually the least of our problems. Who would smith it is another question, so you would need to find some really good smithies, and they also cost a pretty coin."

Sarah crossed her arms and was about to think how to get more gold, yet again, her little brother interrupted her, "What are you thinking about? Just take all the gold you need and go on a shopping tour. Ask Ocilia for the plans of my apparatuses and give them to the blacksmith union and say that their ass will be on the line if they don't get to it."

After hearing it, she was again happy, "Thanks, little brother!..." However, she was a little worried because Alexander's attitude was harsher than usual, "...is everything okay? You sound distressed."

Alexander suddenly laughed hysterically, "Haha! Are you kidding me? Of course, I am distressed. I can't move for weeks, and my mana is broken. What do you expect from me?! Be fucking happy-go-lucky all the time?!"

Sarah frowned, not knowing what to do. She would visit him for an hour every day, trying to cheer him up, but it became visibly worse. She couldn't even imagine how crazy she would get if she would ever be unable to move for months.

She asked, genuinely concerned and ignoring his understandable outburst, "Can I do something for you?"

Alexander opened his mouth, about to become angry again, but suddenly stopped, only to sigh, "Just stay longer, please, okay?"

She smiled and approached him, patting his head, "Sure thing."

'He is cute again.'

"By the way, can you go to the crazy old hag and get the training method where one apparently gets tortured? She always forgets to bring it over and doesn't want to give it to anyone outside the family."

'Never mind.'

...

Janina's Room, Leonandra Estate

"Woah! How do you do this?"

"Hehe, just beat the brush real good, but..."

Janina tilted her head, confused, "But what?"

Patricia twirled the brush a little in her hand and examined it more closely, "This is high quality. Did the Lord or Lady buy this for you? I bet it was the Lord, right? My Father always pampers me, too, hehe."

Janina shook her head, almost letting her oversized barett fall down, which she held down quickly, "No, Alex bought it."

She remembered how he bought the most exquisite set of painting tools and colors he could find for her birthday. From rumors, she discovered that Salyna had looked for it since Alexander had pestered her to no end, always annoying and making his servants follow her until they had a screaming match.

She suddenly noticed that her brother always pampered her. As she looked around, her whole room was full of things: Utensils for painting and drawing, different kinds of toys and board games he made for her and clothing. She suddenly felt a little worried, 'It was probably expensive.'

Patricia interrupted her thoughts, nodding and smiling, "What a nice brother..." Yet, when she said it, she slightly clenched her hand, almost breaking the brush she held, but stopped quickly, looking at Janina apologetically, "...sorry, I really can't get over what my brother had done."

Janina also knew about what had transpired and was slightly perplexed at first since she couldn't understand how siblings could attack each other. For research purposes, she started reading more drama novels instead of romance ones and discovered that such fights were more common. There was always an evil-doer who wanted more power and thus poisoned the whole family or tried worse for their goals. She couldn't imagine it ever happening to her family.

Janina looked at her apologetically, "I am sorry."

Patricia shook her head while looking at the canvas she was painting on, "Don't worry. I am somewhat over that, thanks to Alex."

Janina nodded, "I see."

It was silent again, and she observed how Patricia painted sadness or what felt like it. The art style was creativism, something she couldn't really grasp the concept of but could feel through the forms and colors what it meant, "Are you sad?"

Looking at Patricia, she suddenly smirked, "Not at all. I am frustrated."

"Why?"

"Ones with no power are always frustrated."

"But aren't you strong and talented?"

She smiled sadly, "Does it matter?"

Janina became confused, "I don't understand?"

Patricia didn't stop painting and just explained casually, "Is a talented mouse truly stronger than the average cat?"

Janina nodded, "Of course, right?"

"I don't think so..." Her strokes suddenly became softer, "...it depends on the perspective one has..." her smile became sadder suddenly, "...you know, I talk with Alex a lot, and he told me a very important thing."

Janina immediately frowned, 'He did it again.'

For some reason, her brother was talented in making others think about their common sense and question it. She remembered how he told her months ago about outer space.

The moons in the night sky she found romantically at first were simply giant rocks that reflected the light from the sun, and what she saw wasn't how they looked at the moment but what they looked like some time ago since light traveled. Furthermore, the stars were from a long time ago, so the light they saw was millions of years ago. He told her about many more things, but she fortunately forgot most or misremembered them.

These talks pushed her into an existential crisis that only resolved after weeks of trying to forget it. Still, even though she could somehow ignore it, he destroyed the beauty of the night sky for her, and every time she looked at it, she felt little, almost inconsequential.

Janina looked at Patricia, "Don't listen to him. He sometimes spouts nonsense."

Patricia chuckled, "Hehe, that's true, but he was right in at least one thing: Everything depends on one's perspective."

Janina furrowed her eyebrows, "I don't understand."

"Hm, of course. The concept of something being absolute and relative is hard to grasp, and I cannot even explain it well. However, what I understood was that I am not strong enough."

It was silent for some time until Janina interrupted it, "This is stupid. Alex is stupid."

"Hehe, by the way. Why didn't you visit him more often? I am with him at night, but he is really lonely all day and would be happy to see you."

Janina flinched slightly and immediately felt terrible. In the last weeks, she was only visiting him together with one of her other siblings, and there was a good reason for it, "I... can't look at him..."

Patricia blushed slightly, "But he is beautiful, isn't he? What do you mean?"

She shook her head, "No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just... I felt what he endured, and it was... I just can't..."

The moment she felt it, it was horrible. From then on, every time she saw him, she remembered that feeling and couldn't pat or cuddle anymore since she feared hurting him. She felt increasingly more horrible every day for letting him suffer alone, and it became harder to visit him from then on.

Patricia nodded, "I also felt it through Sarah, and I could barely hold on for some seconds and even leveled up some skills. However, you want to become a Lady, right?"

Janina nodded, not understanding why she had asked such a thing, "Of course."

"Hm, I have a sister called Clara, and she only learned fine arts and how to socialize, never even wanting to hold a weapon. Your goal is visiting balls, painting, making music, and finding a great spouse, right?"

Janina nodded again but more carefully now, "Yes?"

"You know that such people like her are much stronger when it comes to looking after others? She doesn't drink or do drugs to control herself. She merely tries to collect herself and act as properly as possible at all times..." Patricia suddenly smirked, "...well, as long as she doesn't need to fight, that is."

Before Janina could ask more, Patricia continued, sounding more harshly, "If you want to become like this, you need to suck it up and care for your loved ones, ignoring your own feelings."

Janina became silent. She understood it, but that was it. She couldn't overcome it. However, before she could fall into sadness, she felt a flick on her forehead, "Ow!"

Looking up, she saw Patricia grinning, "Come today and stay overnight with us. Alexander already endures the pain much better without too many talismans, so it should be fine, and even though you get a little groggy, enjoy it. How about it?"

Janina nodded carefully, sounding unsure, "Okay..."

Patricia nodded back and looked again at the painting, "Good. You love him, and he loves you. You are all family, so you should be there for each other, all right?..." It became silent, and her strokes were much harsher suddenly, "...I wish I had such a brother."

The painting became increasingly sadder for Janina, almost depressing. However, feeling the atmosphere around here and seeing the color slowly taking up the empty space on the canvas, something clicked. It was beautiful in its own way.

So, she asked herself when thinking about her brother: Why can't pain be beautiful? Such thoughts made her feel terrible again, but now she tried to endure them and started to cry silently.

On this day, her eyes were opened to something new, something much more than just pretty colors and funny, comical figures. She couldn't understand it, but she didn't need to. She decided only to feel it.