千寻影视

Footsteps echoed from outside the door.

Realizing someone was about to enter the room, Brandon immediately sprinted towards the notebook.

Opening his system, he placed the notebooks and the small papers inside the inventory.

Knock— Knock—!

Since he had locked the door before he entered the room, the door rattled. And when they realized it was locked, they started knocking on the door.

"Brandon?!"

A muffled voice rang behind the door. A male's voice. Most likely, Omar, Brandon's father.

Two other voices followed shortly after. It seemed to be Brianna and Belle.

"What's going on?"

"Wait, move aside."

Perplexed, Brandon blinked his eyes.

'Move aside? What does she m—"

BOOM—!

The door burst open and a gust of wind followed, blowing Brandon along the process.

"Khh…!"

As he skidded back, two figures entered the room, while Belle stood at the entrance with her hand lifted up.

"Brandon? What ha…"

Omar's words halted mid sentence as his eyes widened. The same went for the two women as their eyes darted to scan the room.

Blinking, Brandon tried to articulate his words.

"Uh…. I—"

"Brandon!"

Rushing towards him, Brianna spoke with an anxious tone.

"Are you okay…?"

"What happened here?"

Belle slowly walked and stood beside Brianna. The same went for Omar who looked stupefied by the entire ordeal.

Brandon stayed composed. He had already come up with an excuse about the entire thing in the first place. Which is why he did what he did in an unprofound manner.

"Hoo…"

Taking a deep breath, he pursed his lips.

"I was trying to change the layout of my room…"

Was it a good excuse?

Of course it wasn't.

But would they buy it?

Could be.

It was all to confirm just what they thought of the original Brandon Locke.

Did they think he was weak before he took over?

Belle probably already knew that something was up.

But it was also to test her.

Just how much could the current Brandon trust her?

Omar's sudden laugh broke him out of his thoughts.

"Hahaha. You could've asked the staff for that."

He flexed his biceps.

"Or even me. Heavy lifting is still too much for you, my boy."

Brandon cocked his head.

'I see.'

That was all the confirmation he needed.

That meant that the original Brandon Locke wasn't the athletic type.

'No wonder my stamina was so bad when I first arrived here.'

This was especially so during the first Combat Class test.

Slowly walking towards him, Brianna rubbed the back of head.

Her soft voice followed shortly after.

"You don't have to do it by yourself."

She turned and looked around.

"I'll call the staff to clean this up. You can tell them how you want your room to look."

"No, it's okay, Mom."

He shook his head.

"I'll clean this up myself."

"Are you sure…?"

14:19

 Brianna looked hesitant. As if she wanted to refuse his refusal.

But she eventually relented as Belle reassured her.

"Mom, if he wants to do it himself, then let him. I'll help him out as well."

"...Okay."

A hesitant reply.

The serious tone in Belle's voice spoke as much as if she was used to the sight.

'Ah.'

Their parents…

They were way too clingy to their children.

And to think Brandon was sixteen, and yet they still acted that way towards him.

As if he was some kind of glass.

But for Brandon, it felt nice.

A complete family.

So why did the original Brandon look like that in his photos?

There was clearly nothing wrong with his family.

So why?

"Hoo…"

Taking a deep breath, Brandon dismissed his thoughts.

 Leaning down, he started picking up the strewn books on the floor.

Realizing that he really was cleaning his own mess, Brianna and Omar left the room shortly after.

It was now only Brandon and Belle left.

"So?"

Belle's voice reached his ears.

Skeptically raising her brow, she crossed her arms.

"What was all this about?"

"Well…"

*

At the end of it all, he had managed to convince Belle that he was practicing some form of wind magic. Which was the cause of the entire commotion.

Which led to this situation…

Fwooo—!

Outside the mansion, and in their courtyard, she had started teaching him different ways on using wind magic.

Belle was, after all, a Deviant with the [Wind] and [Light] affinity.

Standing next to each other, Belle instructed him.

"Focus all of your mana into your palms. Feel the wind coalescing."

"Like this, right?"

"Yup."

Belle nodded.

In another attempt, a small tornado started forming from his palms.

Quickly lifting his hand up, a ripple pierced through the air, making their hair flutter.

"Good. Your casting time is getting faster."

"All thanks to you."

"Mhm."

Belle did it as well. As soon as she lifted her hand up a gale of wind rippled like a tidal wave.

Fwoooo——!

Just the sheer force of Belle's wind being sent upwards blew Brandon as he skidded back.

"..."

Speechless.

Belle's wind magic was on a whole different level compared to his.

Turning towards Brandon with a smirk, she pursed her lips.

"Wanna spar?"

"Spar…?"

Brandon cocked his head.

"You mean with—"

"Swords."

She interjected before he could finish.

"You haven't seen me use one yet, right?"

"Right."

"Follow me."

*

Belle led him towards an underground basement that could be taken using shiftporters.

After the whole Felix incident, shiftporters were easily recreated by another company called Deus Company.

Just the sight of the new shiftporters being put to use made Brandon smirk.

"Heh."

"What's so funny?

"...Nothing."

Arriving inside the basement, a vast space became visible.

Clank— Clank——!

"Come on! Put your asses into it!"

"You think you can protect the Lord and the Madame with that?!"

Voices reverberated throughout the entire space, as the sound of metal clashing against metal followed it.

Brandon was taken aback.

'A training hall….?'

A bunch of men and women were using the entire space to train. What seemed to be instructors would order them around.

It looked like the military.

'Is this really under the mansion?"

It didn't seem like it.

But he couldn't ask Belle.

Yet again, another question without an answer.

They continued to walk around the dimly lit hallways. This persisted until the light at the end of the tunnel came into view.

Clang—!

As they stepped outside, a colosseum-like arena came into view.

What sort of….?

A familiar figure's back registered in their peripheral view. Noticing them, he turned around.

"Ah, kids. What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Dad."

Belle spoke up as she turned to look at the fight happening from way below.

Walking towards Omar, she stood beside him as she rested her arms on the railing. The same went for Brandon—who followed her example.

Looking at the arena from up above, Belle opened her mouth.

"Any arena we could use?"

"Arena? What for?"

Belle then looked at Brandon before she turned back to meet Omar's gaze.

Pursing her lips, she smiled. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Me and Brandon are going to spar."

"A spar, huh?"

Understanding his daughter's words, Omar nodded.

"In that case, let's use the main arena. "

Looking back at the arena, Omar loudly clapped his hands.

Clap! Clap——!

As soon as the sound echoed, all of the people present abruptly stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Omar.

"Everyone, clear the area and come up here. My kids are about to spar."

As those words left his mouth, everyone present's eyes lit up and immediately got moving.

In just a short amount of time, the arena was cleared, and everyone made their way up and sat at the seats available.

"Mhm."

Letting out a small hum, Omar nodded.

"Go. I'm quite excited to see this."

He alternated his gaze between Belle and Brandon.

His mouth then parted open.

"I haven't seen you fight in a while, Belle. And I'd like to see what Brandon can do after being Academy for two months."

The two nodded at his words as they walked the flight of the stairs down. Omar stayed above as he leaned forwards, his hands resting on the railing.

Staring at the arena, Belle spoke up.

"Don't hold back, okay? Show Dad what you can do now."

"Sure…"

Staring at Belle's back, Brandon opened his mouth.

"Any rules for the spar?"

Before she could answer, Belle pinched her chin, pondering.

"Hmm…."

Her soft lips then parted open.

"Use all your affinities. You don't need to hide it anymore. I'll be solely use [Wind]."

Brandon cocked his head at her words.

"....Okay. But just wind? Wouldn't that be unfair?"

"Think of this as training as well. I'll show you the different applications of wind."

"I see."

Then there's no need to question her.

He knew that Belle was in fact stronger than him.

As they made their way down, the two were given wooden swords. After wearing protective gear, they made their way towards the arena, where a referee stood at the center.

Swoosh—!

Testing the sword out for a swing, Brandon nodded as he looked at Belle who had already gone into a battle stance.

The referee's voice echoed shortly after.

—Go!