Rassi

Rassi looked at the Marchioness surrounding the lieutenant along with her husband and pet phoenix with sadness. Why did it turn out this way? Why couldn't things just end without people dying? Now he would have to step in to save that lieutenant. What was his name again? Well, it didn't matter anyway.

Rassi conjured a lone flame, stroking it as he let it twirl in the air. The battle had shown the utter lack of capability among the Empire's higher Tiers. What fools rushed into battle waving around attacks worth millions of mana that barely hurt the other party. Just a rush to who lost their mana first, really.

Rassi had to bear some of the blame, he'd taught these idiots. Or at least the idiots that taught them. Hmm, that Ray was better than these overly powerful brats. The commoner was completely blowing through the Emperor's disciple, no, he couldn't have that.

The Emperor would be furious if his disciple was defeated by a mere commoner. Why hadn't reinforcements teleported in? A few more Xnarthan and he wouldn't even have to interfere.

Rassi shook his head, there was little he could do about that now. The Xnarthan demanded blood, and he had to give it to them. A smaller flame appeared beside the big one, pointing towards Ray as he shot them both out, controlling them to sneak them between the attacks. And then they disappeared.

"I don't think so." his brother said, teleporting beside him.

"Why do you interfere, Ronne? I could still ask the Xnarthan to-" Rassi began, already forming attacks behind his back. Ronne did not give the chance, teleporting into space before he could even react.

Rassi was ready, the space charms activated as he kept his mana in, grounding himself so that he wouldn't lose power. Ronne just stood there in space beside a ball as he looked at Rassi.

"I came prepared, brother." Rassi said, waving his staff as he feinted towards his brother, shifting his feet as he launched an attack from a different direction instead. The attacks were minor, barely having any mana, but they let him feel out Ronne's reaction.

The attacks teleported away, costing Ronne more mana than Rassi spent on it. Did he really have no other tactic? The battle would be disappointing then.

"Do you really wish to kill my disciple?" Ronne asked, his tone weary.

How unlike him to show weakness. "Ray has just been your disciple for a few weeks, can you really not give him up?" he countered, shooting out attacks into space, randomizing their movement as he tried to make it harder for Ronne to counter.

Ronne sighed. "I have but two disciples, and I shall protect them both. Even from you, brother"

Rassi didn't pay his word much attention, too focused on attacking. The fire multiplied, splitting into tiny threads that coiled around his brother, threatening to attack, but not attacking.

Ronne shook his head, a huge vortex of purple mana appearing. Rassi sighed, so it was true, Ronne truly had only this tactic. But he had concluded too soon. The fire did not disappear, no, it was consumed. A plethora of weapons appeared in the air, orbiting Ronne as his ball began to glow.

Rassi became alert, ready to counter whatever attack came, What were these weapons? The mana was diverse, but Rassi did not sense any particularly powerful ones. On the other hand, he hadn’t sensed the ball at all. What did his brother have up his sleeve?

"Come brother, today we end our feud. Even if it ends in one's death." Ronne said, the sadness in his tone was too great for Rassi's heart to bear. Why was he acting like this? Wasn't he the one that hated Rassi? What had happened?

But Rassi did not have time to think more, the weapons had begun to flow. A sword headed towards him at breakneck speed, forcing him to defend, only to react again to another. A sword to the right, A shield near his face. A sudden hat on his head that changed his dress. The battle turned into one of speed and randomness, putting him at a disadvantage.

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Rassi was a creature of planning and methodical execution. Not a panicked collision based battle. Ronne clearly knew that, it was probably why he'd chosen it in the first place. How ironic, he'd thought Ronne weak a few minutes ago and now…nevertheless, he wasn't done.

A kinetic blow spreads out, Rassi using the secret evolution of his element to throw the weapons away. The mana cost was high, but the strange mutation gave him the chance he needed. A number of fiery collections headed out, forcing Ronne to defend, pushing the battle back into Rassi's comfort zone. No, wait, he spoke too soon. Ronne wasn't done yet.

A new set of artifacts appeared, spiraling towards Rassi from a different direction. Just how many artifacts did this bastard have? Rassi blasted them away again, but he knew that he’d lost. Perhaps if this was the last batch- No, it wasn't. A new batch appeared, and then another, and then another as they spiraled towards Rassi.

Rassi yelled out in frustration as he shot out a massive kinetic blast, throwing fire towards Ronne in desperation. The fire was met by a series of shields working in tandem to dissipate it, then by a series of other shields…Rassi's attack failed.

The battle ended. Just like that. After years of preparation… Ronne was still far more powerful. Rassi couldn't even come close. A sniffle escaped him, something he hid at once, but there was far too little sound in space for it to escape Ronne's attention.

"So you're crying now?" he said, scoffing.

"What do you mean?" Rassi said, confused.

"The tears, they didn't even flow at our mother's funeral." Ronne said matter-of-factly, staring straight into Rassi's eyes.

"Oh." Rassi replied, realizing that Ronne wouldn't know about that."I took a tear not. The Empire demanded a certain decorum from its nobility back in the day..."

"Yes, the oh so precious noblesse decorèt. I don't know where the Emperor even got the word, but it didn't do the world many favors. The nobles are still as arrogant as before, the Empire is still beset with rebels, and the Emperor is still mad.`` Ronne said.

"Come on, you're old enough to know the real story..." Rassi said, shaking his head.

"The wounds of one do not justify the death of many. What the Elven Queen did was atrocious, but it does not justify the Emperor's actions. Not after centuries." Ronne answered, his voice even more pronounced in space.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Rassi asked, changing the topic.

"Well, you're still my brother for one. And I have a question to ask you." Ronne said, staring at him with intent. "What did you ask the Scholar?"

Rassi was taken aback. The question was quite unexpected.

"What? I know that Ray's mother is the Scholar, you let her go. So it stands to reason that you asked her for something. What does the Scholar of Afrieal have that would tempt even Dean Rassi of the Mage Academy? Well, answer me, Rassi. I can still kill you, you know." Ronne said, leaning forward.

"I, ugh, asked her what our mother's last thoughts were. Well, actually, she already knew what I was going to ask-"

"Rassi get to the point." Ronne stopped him in the tracks. For a moment, Rassi felt like they were back home, all those centuries ago. Ronne had to stop him from going on a tangent and over explaining like that even centuries ago…

"Mother was thinking about how she wished we could get along. And how sad she was that you had to witness that." Rassi said, omitting just a little- "Rassi, what else?"

Wait, what? Did Ronne have a truth detector hidden in that pile of artifacts somewhere…well, he had that strange hat, so it wasn't out of the range of possibility.

"Mother was proud that I was successful enough that a noble went out of his way to kill her." Rassi said, closing his eyes as he waited for his death.

"I knew it!" Ronne shouted. "Even while dying..."

Rassi peaked with one eye, watching as Ronne shook his head several times, but didn't attack him.

Well, if he wasn't going to attack him…could he perhaps accomplish that little thing.

"Hmm, if you're not going to kill me-" he began before he was interrupted by Ronne.

"What do you want?" Ronne asked, turning towards Rassi.

"Could you maybe teleport the Duke in here?" Rassi asked, a bit ashamed at how petty and childish and petty he was acting.

"The Emperor would sense it and save him within seconds. Not even the Fae stone could-" Ronne began, but Rassi already had a solution.

A bit too much like a child that was revealing his new toy, he presented the precious stones that may finally allow him his revenge. Ronne took one look at them and doubled over laughing, his large stomach unable to stop him from turning an entire ninety degrees.

"Oh, that overgrown pig…" Ronne said, "In one, two, three…"

Rassi activated the gems, and Ronne teleported the Duke in as the two of them watched one overgrown pig flounder to figure out why his turkey was floating in the air.