Kaito watched Eleanora move her sword from top to bottom using all her weight to do maximum damage. He knew the blow would come, just as it came so many times that week, but it was still hard to avoid. His sister stepped forward and struck with all her might, and even though the boy jumped backwards he was still hit by the gust of wind coming from the powerful attack, which hit him right in the chest and threw him backwards rolling on the ground.

"By the lineage! I told you there's no point in going backwards, airhead! It'll be the same every time!" exclaimed Eleanora.

Kaito was dizzy, but not hurt. He turned his body just in time and rolled on the ground just enough to break his fall. He sat down on the grass and pulled out his notebook again, excitedly writing down everything he had just learned.

"Warriors use a lot of top-down strikes... they are very strong and can shift the wind... going backwards is not really good... deflecting sideways can be bad because the wind catches me too..."

"Are you getting somewhere? Like, you write there and stuff, but I don't see any difference," said Eleanora bending down next to her brother and looking at his scribbles with drawings and notes.

"Spinning? Is spinning a solution? It might work..."

"It's been four days of our training, Kai. I don't know if you'll be able to handle the duel..."

He closed the notebook at once and looked at his sister with eyes shining with anticipation.

"Nora, how do you feel when you use these attacks?"

"How do I feel? I don't know...like to crush someone, I guess."

"It's not that. I mean your body. Do you feel anything different?"

Eleanora set herself to thinking and stated somewhat indecisively.

"I think I feel my blood heavy. I can't explain it, but you can feel it rushing stronger and giving energy, and then it gets heavier and I hit."

Kaito pondered for a moment and opened his notebook again, writing something about the warrior's blood and how it worked.

"Look, I may be talking nonsense, but I think I know why you and Mom use these top-to-bottom strikes and why they are so heavy... I think I also understand why you are so resilient... I read that warrior blood is denser and the veins and body of warriors are thicker. The denser blood running with more force inflates the muscles and weighs the blows... something like that..." said Kaito writing down what he could.

"Gee... That sounds confusing and boring..." said Eleanora trying to understand her brother's writings.

Kaito was as excited as he had ever been. Never in his life had he been so eager to do something, and the possibility of creating ways to win made his pen scribble on the paper even faster. It was at that moment that his father's voice made itself present.

"Eleanora, lunch has arrived. And you, Kaito, should eat too. You have already been training non-stop for hours."

They turned to their father on the porch and Eleanora stood up stretching her arms.

"I don't know, Dad. Kai is very committed to his training..."

"It's lasagna."

"But it's important that he learns to get by on his own, right? See you later, Kai." she said, already running into the house.

Kaito didn't get up, he just sat there looking at his notes and thinking about every little possibility.

"With all that dedication I really hope you found some answers."

His father sat down next to him and Kaito replied as he scribbled down the trajectory of a blow.

"Nora said that her blood weighs heavy when it comes to blows. That must be why warriors attack so much from above and like heavier weapons. And if her blood is heavy, it must make her skin hard, and that makes her more resistant. I think that might be it..."

Miguel couldn't help but smile when he saw that. He was proud and surprised to see his son so committed.

"And what will your response be? How will you defend yourself against a heavy blow that lands so hard?" teased Miguel.

"I think I can turn on the blow and avoid the wind... but attacking back won't work very well," answered Kaito.

"And why wouldn't it work? Wasn't it just using her weight and speed against her? From what I remember you've done that before."

"Yeah... that's what I thought, but it won't work. She has high rank and her skin is too tough..."

"So you think it's going to be impossible? You want to give up?" Miguel teased again.

At that moment Kaito stopped looking at his notebook and turned to his father, who was staring at him with a smart smile on his lips.

"No. I'm going to fight to win, Dad. I know I'm close to something."

The father stated proudly and stood up, patting his son on the shoulder twice and walking to the door.

"As much as I support an intellectual exercise, I don't think you should go without food. Come to lunch."

"I'll be right there...I’ll just write something down and I'll be there."

Miguel looked at his son for a moment longer, his white hair shining with the sun and bent over his writing. It reminded him of himself when he was a studious young mage. He opened the door and left his son alone to plan, little did he know that at that moment Kaito had an idea that had never crossed his mind, and that if it was right, everything would change.

                                                                                        * * *

Eleanora held her sword with both hands, raised the weapon in one sharp stroke and brought the blade down with all its might, causing a gust of wind that shook the branches of the trees ahead.

"So, did you see anything?"

Kaitou watched the blow closely with all his attention and then noted it down in his notebook excitedly. Eleanora approached, somewhat annoyed at being ignored.

“By the blood, can you answer?!"

As he wrote it down with one hand he gestured with the other to her to wait and then turned to her with a broad smile.

"Yeah... I think I understand a few things. If all goes well, I might surprise everyone today."

Her sister smiled, stroking her younger brother's white hair and sitting down beside him.

"And me helping you beat me! I’m the best sister in the world, aren’t I?" she said running her arm across Kaito's shoulders.

"You are the best sister I could ever imagine!" replied Kaito passing his arm across her shoulders as well.

"I used to think sibling love was cute, but you guys are too mushy." said Cassia, who arrived with a pitcher of lemon juice and some glasses "It's in an hour, Kaito. Are you ready?"

"Look, Mom, I might not win, but I'm not going to leave any doubt that I can handle it. If I can manage against an A rank, the other ranks won't be a problem." Kaito replied confidently.

"You're right. As long as you don't step on the toes of an S rank, nothing will go wrong. Just stay away from them and you'll live well," replied Eleanora.

"You guys are taking this leaving S rank alone thing way too seriously, aren't you?"

The resentful voice coming from behind was Elynor's. Cassia stood up excitedly and walked over to her son, hugging him.

"My little boy, how are the visitors?"

Elynor looked irritated at his siblings, who also stood up.

"Lonely. The guilds and schools had several students with their parents. I was alone" he replied in a dry tone as he released himself from his mother's arms.

"I'm sorry, Ely... it's just that everything was so messed up around here that I..." apologized Cassia, somewhat stricken.

"So messy that you didn't even have time for me? Is that it?"

Eleanora approached her brother to face him head on, but at that moment she realized that Elynor, who had always been smaller than her, was bigger and stronger. Still she was not intimidated.

"Is that any way to talk to our mother, Elynor?! Don't you know everything that's going on?"

"Stop it, Eleanora...he's right to be upset. We are two parents and neither of us went with him," said Cassia.

"But mom, he can't talk like that,"

Kaito didn't know how to react to that. He always loved his family and made everyone happy, but at that moment he realized something that had never occurred before: he was the cause of the fight. If he had ranked normally none of this would be happening and his parents would be accompanying Elynor normally.

"I'm just tired of being belittled while the favorite gets everything!"

Her brother's sentence shocked everyone for a moment. Cassia, who always responded to everything and was impulsive, was fragile and guilty.

"Your brother is an F rank and can have his whole life over, Elynor! You're going to have a king's life and you're still saying that?" asked Eleanora angrily.

"Is that going to change anything about the past? I thought having a good rank was going to make me seen, but it didn't change anything!"

"Kaito has already done a lot for you, dammit! Is that the way you repay him?" said Eleanora.

"My problem isn't Kaito, it's our pa-"

"SHUT UP YOU TWO!"

Kaito was surprised to see that his voice could sound like that. He didn't know how he had yelled, but it all seemed to add up inside him and burst out all at once. The shock of seeing him scream had been so great that everyone shut up and looked at him in awe.

"Elynor is right. He became S rank, something very rare, and we didn't even celebrate or anything. That was wrong and I want to apologize for that, Ely. I was a bad brother who only looked out for himself." Kaito said, approaching the three of them.

"Look, Kaito, it's not about you-" tried to answer Elynor.

"But still there are other ways you can talk to mom and dad. You can charge them, but not in that heavy-handed way. At least that's what I think," Kaito added, interrupting his brother.

Elynor pondered for a moment, but soon an unrestrained anger began to come over him and a venom dressed his words.

"So that's it? You want to take the blame to save your wonderful parents who adopted you? Is that it?"

Kaito wanted to answer, but before he could say anything his mother's slap buzzed with speed to Elynor's face, but before it could make contact her hand had been stopped by Miguel, who was arriving there at that moment.

"Let's not resort to that, my dear. There are other ways to solve it," he said, releasing his wife's hand.

"And we're going to let him say something like that without reacting?!"

"This is a problem we created, so we should solve it in the sanest way possible."

The father stood facing Elynor, who stared at him without any fear with his purple eyes full of energy.

"My son, I know we were wrong. We have not been good to you at such an important time, but we will make up for it."

Elynor lowered his gaze and felt heavy inside, but still wanted to fight and rebel. Just then Kaito's voice caught his attention.

"I was thinking... we never fought, did we, Ely?"

Confused, Elynor looked at his brother, who was looking at him with a clever smile.

"If we have fought? I don't think so... but why is that?"               

Kaito walked over to the grass, picked up his sword and looked at his brother in defiance.

"Dad, can I take my test with Elynor? He's S rank, so he'll be even better than Eleanora."

Eleanora was shocked at that, but her father responded immediately, as if he had already thought of everything.

"He was categorized as S rank, but he needs to train and climb the Tower to mature that rank. Of course he is very strong now, but-"

"Take the test with Elynor! I want to see it up close!" replied his mother as she cut off his father.

Miguel and Eleanora looked at Cassia not understanding at all and the mother smiled confidently.

"Oh my blood! How could two brothers not fight with their fists?! Can you call that a real brother?! No! Let them brawl there!"

Eleanora was about to protest, but Miguel, looking at his wife's expression, gestured for his daughter to stop.

"Let your mother handle this." he turned to Elynor, who looked somewhat confused, and ordered "Elynor, you heard your mother, go face Kaito and do your best. I want to see your power, my son."

Elynor stared at his parents for a moment, shrugged, and walked over to the lawn, facing Kaito.

"I heard that you want to go to the Phoenix Academy. So if you lose you don't go, is that it?" teased Elynor.

Kaito held his sword forward and stared into his brother's eyes of angry energy.

"I'm going anyway, because I'm not going to lose, Ely. Pick up that sword on the ground and come with all your might."

Elynor looked at the sword near his feet and did not hold back a laugh. Projecting his hand forward the battlemage created a sword of purple energy that illuminated the entire area. The power and rarity of it was such that Miguel had to whisper to Cassia.

"Do you still think it's a good idea for them to face each other?"

"I don't think anything. I only feel and follow my instincts. If it didn't go wrong before it won't go wrong now," she replied excitedly.

Kaito could feel the immense power coming his way. The trees swayed, the ground seemed to vibrate, and everything around was filled with the silence of expectation. That was his brother, an S rank with a unique class. That was an example of the world he would face.

"I'll be honest, Kaito. I don't think it's a good idea for you to go to the Phoenix Academy. You should stay at home and live with my help. But if you don't understand by words..." a wave of purple energy sweeps across the yard "Then I'll make you understand by force!"

Kaito knew he had no chance of winning. That was far above anything he could have hoped for. But something inside him perked up. The challenge, the chance to face something extraordinary, and the possibilities it could create. It made him smile. He wanted to win, and not only Elynor, but all those who doubted him. He wanted to feel the pleasure of proving the world wrong, and if it depended on how he felt, it would happen.

"Then we'll see, Ely, which is greater...your strength or my will."