It had been just over a week since their parents had shown them the training ground that was only accessible through the garden in the backyard. Even though there was no proof of it, Melmarc liked to think of the space as a training ground located just under the garden.

  Considering the fact that it had been a teleportation spell that had sent them from the garden to the location, it was safe that for all he knew, the place could be located on the other side of the world.

  Still, the idea of being under the garden felt safer.

  “Again?” Ark asked, looking to Uncle Dorthna.

  Uncle Dorthna stood leaning against the wall on one end. They were once again within the training space. The black arena was still off in Melmarc’s eye. It was the only way he could describe it. They glistened and, while the complete blackness of the titles walls and floor cast the place in a shadowy light, they glistened enough as if reflecting light. It made the place dim enough to see in yet give you the sense that there were things present that you simply weren’t aware of.

  It was strange because there was no source of light that Melmarc could see to explain the glistening black tiles.

  Uncle Dorthna looked up from the palm of his hand. “What’s the score now on sparring?”

  “Fifteen to zero,” Ark replied, smug.

  “One,” Melmarc corrected.

  Uncle Dorthna shook his head. “You cheated so that one didn’t count.”

  “But it wasn’t my fault,” Melmarc groaned. He pointed an accusatory finger at Ark who still had a smug smile on his face. “He used a skill.”

  Ark laughed. “It’s called a feint.”

  Uncle Dorthna pushed off the wall. “He’s right, Mel. He made a feint, and you fell for it.”

  Ark rubbed his thigh as if he could still feel the pain from hitting the ground a little too hard from the shoulder throw Melmarc had given him during the spar they were talking about three days ago.

  Ark had seemed like he was about to use a skill and Melmarc had panicked. He’d ended up activating [Knowledge is Power]. He’d taken Ark’s fist to the face head on and had capitalized on it to throw him over the shoulder. Not anticipating it, Ark had landed poorly.

  “Your parents set a rule for your spars,” Uncle Dorthna was saying as he walked up to them. “Remember what it is?”

  “No skills during the sparring sessions,” Melmarc grumbled.

  Ark folded his arms over his chest. “They said nothing about feinting with it.”

  Uncle Dorthna came to a stop in front of them and looked at Ark. “How did you even get him to fall for a skill that you didn’t even activate.”

  Ark’s gaze moved to Melmarc and Melmarc took it from there.

  “I know him well enough,” he answered. “He used that to his advantage.”

  “He’s always been able to tell when I’m about to be sneaky,” Ark supplied. “I learnt a few of my tells long ago—not all of them, though.”

  “So he just used one of them and the rest is history.”

  Uncle Dorthna looked between the both of them. “So Ark used your knowledge of him against you?”

  Melmarc nodded.

  Uncle Dorthna made a face that said he was impressed. “That’s battle IQ right there. Either that or you really haven’t been putting up a fight against your brother.”

  “I had him in that jaw lock the other day,” Melmarc pointed out.

  “And he somehow managed to turn it into an ankle lock that you tapped to.”

  “He was going to break my ankle.”

  Uncle Dorthna looked at Ark, and Ark nodded. “I was going to.”

  Uncle Dorthna tilted his head to the side. “That’s… harsh.”

  “Not really, Spitfire would’ve healed it when we got out.”

  Spitfire was not allowed in the training arena, so they always left it in the house. Ark had assured them that it would not destroy anything, and so far, Spitfire had lived up to his word. There was yet to be a mishap.

  “Alright,” Dorthna said, ignoring whatever was on his palm. “Today we’re going to do something different.”

  Ark perked up. “Different how?”

  “Different as in different from what your parents said.”

  “So you think we’ve gotten this one down?” Melmarc asked.

  Dorthna shook his head. “Not even close. But there are things that can be taught in one night and things that take years to learn. This can’t be taught in a month.”

  “We’ve only been training for a week, Uncle D,” Ark pointed out.

  Uncle Dorthna looked at him then sighed. “You’ve always been the troublesome one. I bet people think you’re just violence and no brains.”

  Ark nodded with a grin.

  Dorthna looked at Melmarc. “And you’re okay with people thinking that your smart older brother is nothing but a brute?”

  Melmarc shrugged. “It works to his favor so I can’t complain. Besides, I know that he’s smart, so there’s that.”

  Dorthna reached into his pockets suddenly and tossed something at them. Melmarc and Ark already knew what was happening and they snatched each item out of the air. Melmarc felt the impact of what he caught in his grip and was already groaning.

  Ark pumped a fist in the air, lowering his hand. Opening it revealed a small ball with a lot of cracks running along it.

  “You failed,” Dorthna said.

  “I know.” Ark looked at Melmarc. “But he failed more.”

  Sighing, Melmarc opened his hand and Ark was right. The ball in his hand was a shattered mess. It had broken on impact.

  Dorthna looked at it. “Don’t sweat it. Like I said, not something that can be learnt in a month.”

  The reason their parents had them sparring without skills wasn’t for the sake of safety, even thought that was also a reason. The major reason, however, was to teach them how to control their strengths. According to Uncle Dorthna, the trick was to control their strengths in intense situations. Their urge to win would make them pull out a lot of strength while their love for each other would make them hold back their strengths so that they don’t injure themselves seriously.

  “The both of you are going to get stronger than any Gifted you know faster than any Gifted you know.” Uncle Dorthna took a significant step back. “What your parents are teaching you is how not to hug your sister in excitement when you see her and accidentally snap her back.”

  Ark raised his hand like a student in class. “No worries on that from my end. I don’t love her that much.” He looked at Melmarc. “They must be talking about you.”

  Melmarc cocked a brow at him. “Really?”

  “Hey,” Ark raised both hands and stepped back, “you’re the one that keeps asking me to call her.”

  “I haven’t heard from her since I got back.”

  “And mom already told you that she’s fine. Why didn’t you ask them to call her for you.”

  “Because I have you,” Melmarc said as if that explained everything, which it was supposed to. “Why should I be disturbing them?”

  “Because they are your parents?”

  Melmarc gave it a thought. “Fair point.”

  “I knew you’ll realized it eventually.”

  “Changes nothing, you’re still calling her tonight.”

  Ark shook his head. “Buy your own phone. You’ve been phoneless since you got back. You haven’t even gotten in touch with your friends.”

  Normally, that would give Melmarc a pause, but it didn’t. He was very much aware of the fact that Delano and Eroms still didn’t know that he was around. He was also aware of the fact that if they tried to call him, there was no way to reach him.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  They could always visit to check on him, but Melmarc couldn’t remember ever getting a surprise visit from them. They either followed him home or visited him after making plans that involved visiting him.

  Now that Melmarc thought about it, he doubted he or anyone in the house had ever gotten surprise visits before.

  “If you’re both done bickering, can we continue?” Dorthna asked, still waiting patiently.

  Melmarc looked down at the pieces of the small orb in his hand and let them fall from his palm as he always did.

  When it came to strength control, Ark had the upper arm. He was better at it, gauging his strength as much and as well as he wanted.

  Ark threw his own orb over his shoulder, abandoning it to fall wherever it wanted. “Alright then, what’s next?”

  “Do you two still remember how to fight with your skills?” Uncle Dorthna asked.

  Melmarc had a momentary flashback of his time in the portal and his fight against the Demi-god. He nodded. “Yes.”

  Uncle Dorthna cocked a brow at him. “No PTSD?”

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” Melmarc said, shaking his head.

  Ark gave him a worried look. “You sure? You still sleep on the floor.”

  “Because it’s more comfortable.” Melmarc frowned.

  “It’s still the floor,” Ark said. “Try sleeping on the bed for once and let’s see what happens. Fallen High might not take kindly to sleeping on the floor.”

  Melmarc sighed. “That’s if they’ll take me.”

  “If they take you or not doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things,” Uncle Dorthna pointed out. “What matters is if you still know how to fight with your skills.”

  Again, Melmarc nodded. “I do.”

  “I do,” Ark said at the same time.

  Over the days, Uncle Dorthna had seen what their individual skills had been capable of. Melmarc had tested a few of his skills as well. Unsurprisingly, like [Rings of Saturn], [Weight of Jupiter] had an activation sequence, an action he needed to take to activate it.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Uncle Dorthna said. “The both of you are going to spar with your skills.”

  Melmarc gulped, thinking of the destructive power of [Rings of Saturn].

  As if reading his mind, Uncle Dorthna continued, “No [Rings of Saturn] or [Secrecy]. And no shadow fire.”

  “Shadow fire?” Ark asked confused.

  Uncle Dorthna gestured randomly. “That black fire that you can use.”

  “Oh, that. But why did you call it Shadow fire?”

  “I knew a guy once who could use it. He called it shadow fire.”

  “What happened to him?”

  A sad look crossed Uncle Dorthna’s face. “His story ended. Now let’s get back to business. Create some space and we can get started.”

  Ark started walking off to the side.

  Melmarc did the same, increasing the distance between them. “Is this safe?”

  “You won’t die,” Uncle Dorthna said casually. “Does that work for you?”

  Ark shrugged. “Do we get to keep our limbs?”

  Uncle Dorthna looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he looked down at his palm. “You should?”

  “Uncle D,” Melmarc protested, and their uncle chuckled.

  “Yes, yes. You get to keep your limbs, too. But keep in mind that the pain will be real.”

  Melmarc and Ark were already standing a good distance from each other now, prepared for what would come next.

  “Remember,” Uncle Dorthna said, walking back to where he’d been standing for most of the day, “No pure mana.”

  “Or Shadow fire,” Ark added.

  “Same thing.” Uncle Dorthna shrugged. “Now, begin.”

  Wait, what?

  The distraction of finding out that Shadow fire had something to do with pure mana was enough that Melmarc’s movement was delayed.

  Ark crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and Melmarc was met with the sight of a fist coming straight for his eye. He raised his hand, slapping the fist aside with all his might. He’d been sparring with Ark long enough to know that his brother was significantly stronger than him.

  Ark’s fist clipped Melmarc’s jaw slightly, its trajectory thrown off course by Melmarc’s deflection. As Ark missed, Melmarc moved to the side to get around him, but Ark was already spinning so that they faced each other.

  Melmarc closed the distance between them and Ark opened his mouth in response. Melmarc hesitated for only a moment before ducking to the side and falling into a roll. Fire spewed from Ark’s mouth as if from a flame thrower. It was accompanied by a loud noise that sounded like a low roar.

  But it wasn’t just a simple burst of fire. Ark turned his head in Melmarc’s direction and the flames continued to flow and spread.

  Melmarc was already on his feet and running to the side. His brain was already running through possibilities. He could use [Knowledge is Power]. It would protect him and he could close the distance with it. But there was the pain to think about.

  He also didn’t want to be a predictable one trick pony. He wasn’t going to be the guy who reacted to specific attacks in one way.

  Jumping back, he increased the distance between him and his brother. Ark, however, simply stepped forward, spewing more flames from his mouth.

  Melmarc thought of throwing something at Ark but there was nothing to throw.

  Maybe I could—

  Melmarc’s entire attention flashed to something coming at him from the side and he found himself ducking again. A whip of fire flashed over him, cutting through the air where his head had been only a moment ago.

  Having dodged it, Melmarc looked up to find the whip extending from one of the areas where Ark’s fire was still burning.

  A frown marred his lips as Ark stopped breathing out fire.

  “Neat, right?” Ark said as he raised both arms and four whips of fire danced from the flames around them. “My control got better when it hit twenty percent.” He grinned. “I’ve been practicing.”

  Melmarc remembered that [Will of Hades] gave Ark some level of resistance to heat and fire as well as some level of control. But the level of control had almost been insignificant. This, however, was far from insignificant.

  “You specialized,” Melmarc said, unable to help the accusation in his voice.

  “You say that like it’s an accusation.” Ark looked smug. “But yes, I did. At ten percent and twenty percent. Now I get to do this.”

  The first whip snapped at Melmarc and he took the hit with raised arms. He hissed at the pain that came with being burnt by it. He wasn’t sure if Ark was holding back or if the flames just weren’t that strong.

  Ark didn’t seem bothered. He simply made another gesture and another whip snapped out. Melmarc took notice of it. Ark needed gestures to use the skill. He wondered if they were similar to how he needed gestures to use his rings of mana or if it was Ark’s method of looking cool or just another feint designed to confuse him.

  The entire space was lit up in the orange and red colors of fire as Ark’s flames continued to spread even though he was no longer generating them. In the distance, Uncle Dorthna simply watched them, unbothered.

  Melmarc took his cue from their uncle and concluded that what was happening wasn’t a problem. They didn’t have to worry about the fire causing too much trouble.

  “You should really learn to take the pain,” Uncle Dorthna said casually. “It’s a part of your skill so you might as well get it over with.”

  As much as Melmarc hated to admit it, their uncle was right. He would not be able to do anything to Ark if he couldn’t get close to him, especially with his ranged skill from [Rings of Saturn] being barred from the fight.

  “That’s cheating,” Ark said. “You don’t get to coach him.”

  That much was true, but Melmarc already had all the motivation he needed.

  [You have used skill Knowledge is Power]

  The moment the burst of mana left him, Melmarc charged Ark.

  Ark drew his hands together the moment he saw Melmarc coming and raised them in an offensive stance. Melmarc braced himself against the pain as he rushed through the fire. He clenched his teeth against the pain and the heat as parts of his clothes caught on fire.

  As for Ark, the whips of fire he had raised pooled to his hands, wrapping around his upper arm and his fists like chains.

  That’s a terrifying level of control.

  Melmarc got to Ark and tried to tackle him, knowing very well that he could not inflict damage. So he was trying to pin him down.

  Ark slipped from his reach easily, hitting with a two strike combo as Melmarc turned to face him. Melmarc’s combat instincts took over and he slapped the first blow aside with an open fist only for the second to hit him in the chest a little too fast for him to stop.

  Pain flared in his chest, but it wasn’t anything that he could not handle. He swung at Ark and Ark parried the blow easily. Pain flared in Melmarc’s hand as he realized that his brother was currently using a combination of skills that gave him a good offense and defense at the same time.

  Ark had a smile on his face as he hopped gently on the balls of his feet.

  “You’ll have to hit fast or hit strong,” Ark said, fists still raised.

  “Or I can tackle you.”

  Melmarc rushed Ark again, hunched low for another tackle. Ark raised his knee to meet Melmarc’s attack.

  It’s just pain, Melmarc told himself. If he barreled into the leg, he could send his brother flying as long as he didn’t allow the pain stop him.

  It was looking like a good plan until a whip of fire shot out from the flames around them to wrap itself around Ark’s raised leg. Then Ark moved the leg, turned a raised knee into a downward sweeping kick.

  Knowing how much pain would come from that one, Melmarc threw himself to the side. The fire around them drew in closer when he did, and he found himself tumbling through the flames. His clothes caught aflame and Melmarc saw the static burst of mana from [Knowledge is Power] coming back to him.

  Shit, he cursed as he rolled out of the flames ripping away at his currently burning clothes. The last thing he needed was to be wearing burning clothes when [Knowledge is Power] ended.

  Judging from the smirk on Ark’s face, his brother was fully aware of his panic and had probably planned it too.

  This was why Melmarc hated fighting his brother. Put Ark in a combat situation and his IQ suddenly developed a multiplier and he started thinking like some high level genius.

  He planned this, Melmarc realized as he ripped the last of his shirt from his torso.

  Ark cocked a brow in appreciation. “You’ve got abs. Cool.”

  Melmarc ignored the compliment as the burst of mana finally hit him. The first thing he noticed was the green indicator above Ark’s head.

  It was good to know that their current training did not designate Ark as a threat.

  [Skill Knowledge Is Power is concluded.]

  [All stats are increased by +1.5.]

  [Life forms detected: 2.]

  [You have received 2 Potential buffs.]

  [???????](Mastery -1000000.00%)

  ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  [Will of Hades](Mastery 16.02%)

  The Demon possesses a slight resistance to fire.

  Something was off. Melmarc remembered copying the skill once upon a time and didn’t remember the description talking about Demons. It had said Gifted the last time. He was sure of it.

  So what did it mean that it said ‘Demon’ now that it was over ten percent.

  Melmarc shoved the thought in a corner as he felt a strange connection to the fire around them. He pulled on it instinctively and the flames wavered slightly.

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Ark charged him, a smile on his face that said he was enjoying himself.

  But as fast as he was, he was not fast enough. As the flames pooled to Melmarc, large and chaotic, unlike Ark’s whips, Melmarc watched his brother brace for impact and knew that he was about to be tackled.

  If he dodged, it could possibly break his connection to the fire around him.

  Then don’t dodge.

  Melmarc raised a single foot off the ground and slammed it back down. It was the activation sequence for his new skill. As the flames gathered to him, his interface came to life.

  [You have used skill Will of Hades]

  …

  [You have used skill Weight of Jupiter]

  Melmarc felt himself grow heavier, his weight increasing at a quick pace. His view was slightly obstructed by the flames that gathered to him. Through the obstruction, he saw Ark’s smile widen into something maniacal.

  It took Melmarc only a moment to realize that Ark knew exactly what he had done and had still chosen to barrel right into him.

  It’s a test of strength, Melmarc realized.

  He clenched his teeth, slightly excited at the very idea of it. Sometimes, when waging war against an ally, you respected their determination and gave back just as good as they gave.

  Melmarc steadied his feet beneath him. Consumed by the flames around him and shirtless as he was, he felt like a Viking, like a terrifying thing that belonged in stories that terrified children.

  He felt like a mountain set ablaze.

  He braced for impact and met his brother’s smile with one of his own. His response to his brother was supposed to come out as a softly spoken word, but it did not. And Melmarc could not help it.

  “Come!” he roared.

  And Ark barreled right into him.