Free Web NovelChapter 14: Magical Talent (2)
Panic hit Priam like a punch.
Right in front of him, the girl who looked like an icy porcelain doll had started falling apart.
Shione already had cracks all across her bluish skin, like the fractured surface of a frozen lake. But now, it was as if everything had completely shattered, on the verge of exploding.
"Uwaaagh!"
Her scream was shrill, filled with an agony that didn’t sound human.
She collapsed, clutching her own body as she rolled across the courtyard floor, while the sound of crystals breaking continued echoing through the air from inside her.
For several endless seconds, chaos reigned. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Only when Priam felt her energy stabilize did he finally relax.
He let out a sigh of relief he hadn’t even realized he was holding.
"I win," Priam said, his cold tone cutting right through the drama unfolding below. "Flora, stop staring and have someone drag this crying brat out of here before she melts."
"Y-Yes...!"
Flora stammered before running off at full speed.
Shione was a pitiful sight.
Tears and snot stained her pale face, and involuntary whimpers escaped her trembling body.
Lumiere rushed to her side, his face overflowing with concern. When he realized she had stabilized quickly and was fine, his fury immediately shifted toward the culprit.
"Coward!"
Lumiere roared as he stood and faced Priam.
"Who’s the coward here?"
Priam snorted while dusting off his hands.
"The moment the handkerchief touched the air, the timer started running. The duel had already begun."
"That is... technically you’re right, but it’s still a cowardly act!"
Lumiere shot back, his voice trembling with rage.
"You hit her Absolute Ice Core! You nearly destroyed it! All of her energy reversed and burst out at once... did you really want to torture her that cruelly?!"
"I apologize. I simply attacked the spot that looked the most vulnerable."
Priam replied without changing his expression.
"I don’t know anything about your bloodline, much less that she keeps a weakness in such an exposed place. But honestly... if her weak point is that obvious and she had no defenses there, that says more about her abilities than it does about my character, don’t you think?"
Lumiere froze with his mouth hanging open.
Priam’s words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head.
It made sense.
How would some "country bumpkin" know the secrets of their bloodline?
And honestly, his sister really was impulsive and hot-headed. Their instructor constantly scolded her for leaving her core too exposed.
"Even so..."
Lumiere sighed, trying to recover his wounded dignity.
"It was a cheap shot. You didn’t fight with honor."
"You ’nobles’ have an incredible talent for twisting logic so that you’re always the victims, don’t you?"
Priam mocked.
"You...!"
Priam stared directly at him.
"Tell me, what would an honorable duel look like? We count to three, drink some tea, and decide who gets to start? In a real fight, do you think the enemy is going to wait for her to get ready, or finish her villain monologue?"
Priam wasn’t some experienced warrior or seasoned Fighter. Quite the opposite.
But he had learned many things from his mother and Flaris recently.
Even he would never lower his guard the way that brat had.
Lumiere fell silent.
He looked at Shione, who was still sobbing miserably on the ground.
He felt sorry for her, but deep down he knew the mistake had been hers.
"You could have held back a little," Lumiere muttered. "She’s difficult, I know, but she’s still a girl. She didn’t actually want to hurt you."
"I’m sorry, but that was already the weakest attack I have."
Priam replied.
If he had known about her core, he genuinely wouldn’t have done it that way.
But there was no changing it now.
Seeing that Shione had finally stopped groaning, Lumiere shifted topics, his eyes shining with curiosity.
"You really didn’t use any Magic Art?"
Priam, who was already gathering his sandbags, looked at him with irritation.
If he had actually learned one, his mother would be in trouble.
The accusation deeply annoyed him, but he took a deep breath.
"Why are you still here?"
"I asked you a question! How can you move around carrying that much weight and attack that fast without a strengthening Magic Art?"
"That’s called ’Demonic Training,’ brat."
Priam spoke slowly.
"There’s no secret, only pain. I channel Ether into my muscles and train until I hit my physical limit, letting my body break apart. Then I stuff myself with healing pills and do it all over again. Anyone can do it if they’ve got the stomach for it."
Lumiere’s eyes changed completely.
Of course, he had heard of it before. It wasn’t exactly a secret.
But...
Pouring all of one’s Ether into the muscles and training until the body literally broke down was worse than torture.
Afterward, expensive healing pills were needed to recover, meaning the process had to be repeated multiple times in a single day for it to be truly effective.
The gains were good, but the effort, psychological strain, and daily resources consumed simply weren’t worth it.
Who would be crazy enough to do that?
If you were a Physical Mage, it was far better to simply use a physical enhancement Magic Art, which had practically the same effect in battle, and then use the extra free time to improve other things.
"You... You dare...!"
Shione finally managed to catch her breath.
She lifted her head, her eyes still spinning, one hand pressed against the center of her chest as if she’d been impaled by a stake.
"H-how... how are you such a coward...?!"
"You two just said the exact same thing."
Priam chuckled as he looked down at her.
"Does the world look like some peaceful flower garden through that hollow head of yours? The duel started, you stood there acting like the ’Holy and Invincible Fairy,’ and I knocked you down. Where exactly is the cowardice?"
Shione was left speechless.
Partly because she didn’t know what to say, but also because she was confused by what he’d said and thought he might have compared her to a beautiful, peaceful flower garden.
Her mind, still clouded by pain and shock, had filtered his words in a very unexpected way.
"...Did you just call me pretty?"
She asked, her expression abruptly shifting from hatred to bizarre confusion.
"Did the impact fry her brain?"
Priam muttered, stunned.
"I don’t want to repeat myself. Ask your brother what I said about ’twisted logic.’"
"You... you son of a bitch...!"
She had no idea how to react to his indifference, so she simply resorted to cursing again, her face burning from a mixture of pain and embarrassment.
Priam continued.
"From what I heard, only your Ice Core lost its energy. Your ears should still be working, right?"
Shione couldn’t answer.
Because he was right.
Even though the pain was so intense it nearly drove her insane, she had clearly heard everything Priam had said to her brother earlier.
Still, even if she had to admit that what he did wasn’t cowardly, this spoiled fifteen-year-old girl absolutely refused to accept defeat.
In front of her brother and all the servants...
Being forced into such a humiliating situation was unacceptable!
"You dare... You dare...!"
She stammered.
"The laws of the world really do tend toward balance,"
Priam said slowly.
"You’re genuinely beautiful, but you’ve got a shitty personality to balance it out. Still, you received an education worthy of your status, right? Since you lost the duel, the most honorable and proper thing would be to acknowledge your defeat with humility. Even though you were lecturing me about honor and dignity earlier... you’re not actually going to do something as embarrassing as refusing to admit you lost, are you?"
"I..."
She couldn’t answer.
She had no way to express her anger.
Her entire body hurt, and her mind was a complete mess.
If the pain had been even slightly weaker, she might have stood up and demanded another fight.
But right now, she physically couldn’t.
The anger and sadness bottled up inside her overflowed as tears.
Sniffling miserably, Shione buried her face in her arms.
Seeing that, Priam felt as though a hammer had slammed into his chest.
But...
Priam snorted and kept a neutral expression.
He had to pretend he felt no sympathy for the sight.
After all, wasn’t this brat the one who had approached him with such a disgusting attitude in the first place?
’I probably should’ve acted a little less impulsively... This isn’t going to turn into some pointless, shitty mess, is it?’
Priam was finally starting to worry about the consequences of his actions.
From the very beginning, he had been openly harassed and disrespected.
But now that he had left the youngest daughter of the clan leader in this state...
What worried him most wasn’t himself.
It was the possibility that someone might use this incident as an excuse to target his mother.
At that moment, a bloody light flowed through his eyes.
’Let them try and see what happens.’
While Priam was thinking that, Shione was desperately trying to hold back her tears.
Even though she didn’t want to look even more pathetic than she already did...
She still didn’t want to admit defeat.
It was a full-blown fit of childish stubbornness.
"Young Lady!"
The shout came from a distance, and its owner quickly closed the gap.
A woman arrived at the training grounds wearing a soldier’s uniform.
She was tall and imposing, with long golden hair tied into a single ponytail.
Far behind her, Flora could be seen running after her, completely out of breath.
"This... what is this?!"
The woman exclaimed.
Her face darkened immediately, and the atmosphere itself became suffocating.
Very quickly, her piercing gaze locked onto Priam.
At that moment, Priam narrowed his eyes seriously.
