Mira is coming down the stairs and she is currently on the second floor. She is stopped however by a woman wearing a long red dress. Her black hair loose, touching her back. Her face had no wrinkles at all, covering her actual age. She looks at her, her black eyes meeting her's.

" Mira. I heard about your return." she says with a smile, but with a displeased tone behind it.

“ Good to see you too, Orora.” she greets her and tries to bypass her. But she puts her hand on the wall, covering Mira's path.

“ What did you call me, you ungrateful child?!” she asks in rage.

Mira backs off from the stairs.

“ You will refer to me as mother. Got it?”

“ You are not my mother. And what's your problem? I know you don't care if I am alive or not. You hate me. And you know it as much as I do.”

" And that's true. But," she says grabbing her from her hair and bringing her closer. " I must teach you who is the superior one in this house. If you think you are someone, just because you have that ability, you are mistaken. Inside this house, I am the superior one. I and my children come from a pure lineage, while your mother was just a whore. You are a no one, and you must learn to respect your superiors!" she yells. Raising her hand to slap her.

But her hand is caught mid-motion by someone else.

“ And don't forget mother. I am the one who stands above all else in this house.” a male voice is heard. She turns around in shock.

“ Michael? What are you doing here?”

“ I was going to my room to rest, but my eyes and most certainly my ears caught something interesting. Care to explain what's going on here?”

“ Nothing. I was just teaching Mira some discipline.”

“ I see. But you know mother, I hate violence, especially when it happens in my house. I would really prefer it if you stopped here.” he says.

Mira knows that she can't do anything to defend herself. Because of that woman, whether she wants to admit it or not, holds more power than her. As the main wife of the Gracial household. But her brother also holds great power. As an ability user and leader of the household. But, this person is his mother. And a battle with her is certainly a loss. That's why he is trying to make her back off, by putting lineage rights on the table. It is his house after all.

“ Fine. I will respect your decision my son.” she finally gives up and goes to leave.

But as she passes by Mira, she says something.

“ I heard about your failure at the Jackal Mountains. If you are only going to be a burden to this family, then...” she lets her sentence trail off before she gives one last look at Michael and enters one of the rooms on the floor.

When the door closes Mira lets out a long sigh.

“ Thank you brother.” she admits.

“ Don't sweat it Mira. Now if you excuse me, I would like to go rest. I spent all night up, working on some documents.”

“ I see. Then I shall be leaving you alone.”

And with that she leaves the second floor, heading towards the living room, where her team was waiting for her. She wanted them to meet her brother Michael, but she understands. He needs to rest. Maybe another time.

She finds them sitting on the sofa in the living room. The guys chatting with each other, while Anna was going in and out of the dining room, caring plates.

When she sees Mira, she stops. She hands the plates over to a nearby maid and goes to talk to her.

“ So Mira? How did it the meeting go.”

“ Fine. I guess.”

“ It was Orora who yelled at you, wasn't it?”

“ You heard her, all the way from here?”

“ She was quite loud you know. I had to explain the situation to the guys a little.”

“ What did you say Anna?”

" Not much. Don't worry. Just that she is your stepmother, that she is the second authority figure in this house, and that they should avoid her. I wasn't going to go into details. I will leave the backstory part to you. When you are ready to tell them of course."

“ We will see. But now isn't that time.”

She says as she claps her hands, catching the guys attention.

“ Now then you guys. It is time we put you into training. You must learn to use your abilities. Greyo won't wait for long. We must use the little time we have to improve you. And maybe we can improve as well.” she says looking at Anna, who nods at her words.

“ I agree with you. We need to sharpen our new skills. And also practice our old ones, to not get rusty.” Ivan says.

“ It is settled then. From now on, we are going to have everyday training sessions.”

" Fine by me. Hey, Ivan lets train together." Andrew says in excitement.

“ Just wait a minute. I have already made a partner system.” Mira tells them.

“ A partner system?”

" Yes, Andrew. A partner system. First of all, Alex, you will be training with Anna. Anna is an excellent swordsman. She will teach you how to fight, train your body and also teach you some simple spells to make use of your ability."

“ You want me to teach him my Red Drive?”

" If it's possible, yes. It will be really useful."

" So we will be training together Anna. That's great. It will be a perfect opportunity to learn more about each other." he says with a perverted smile. Anna shivers just to the thought of that.

“ If you do anything weird. I am going to cut that thing of yours.” Ivan threats him.

" What think?" Alex asks him but gulps as he finally understands what he meant.

" Next is you two. You will be training together. You both have good physical attributes. Just spar with each other, and you will get the handle of your abilities. Be creative, that's what defines an ability." she says to Andrew and Ivan.

“ Sweat.” Andrew replies.

“ And as for me. I will go to Mario to help me with my magic consumption. That's all.”

“ So, when do we start?” Alex asks.

" Right now. Come on. Get into your new clothes and let's go to the military training grounds."

They obey. They go upstairs to change and then right to the training field.

“ We are in for a very long ride, boys.” Andrew comments.