Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

"I think that’s enough. How about you give up now, Elias?"

Hearing those words, Elias forgot to breathe for a moment.

’Give up? No, how could I...’

There was no way he would give up, not when his mother was watching him along with all those people. He still hadn’t done anything yet.

He spoke with trembling lips.

"I-I can’t..."

He struggled with everything to get up, pushing his body up from the ground with both hands. Just then, he heard his brother’s voice again.

"I will give you three seconds. Get up."

Elias gritted his teeth hard.

"One."

His entire body was covered in sweat, and drops of sweat rolled down from his chin. He pushed his body up the ground further.

"Two"

He was moments away from rising to his feet, but...

"Three"

Right after he heard that, his brother kicked him in the stomach so hard that he almost puked out all the contents inside.

"Aghhh-!"

His world spun as he was thrown a few meters ahead due to the force of that kick. Elias rolled on the hard ground while desperately clutching his stomach.

His head was spinning.

His brother walked up to him, stopping only a step away.

"Elias, give up."

Lying on the ground, Elias slowly looked up. His brother was standing in front of him, looking down at him expressionlessly. The setting sun’s orange glow had dyed the world in its color, and the clouds above his brother were also faintly orange.

’Just one scratch...’

He somehow pushed himself up the ground and swung his sword at his brother. The strength behind the swing had diminished significantly compared to the beginning.

His brother grabbed the sword’s blade with one hand before it could reach him.

"Elias, give up now. Otherwise, you will continue to get hurt even more."

The next moment, his brother applied strength to his grip, shattering the wooden blade as pieces of wood fell to the ground.

Elias’s eyes widened in despair.

"No..."

His brother punched him in the face with his other hand, causing his head to turn sharply to the side. It was a punch so heavy it made his head spin. He was about to lose his balance, but his brother suddenly grabbed his collar.

"Give up, Elias. Forfeit, and it will all end."

***

The audience could only quietly watch the scene that was unfolding before their eyes.

Many of them had already known that this match was going to be one-sided, but they still looked forward to it because of House Ravenshade’s second son.

It was fairly obvious that the first son was going to be the heir, given his outstanding talent. Still, the nobles were curious if the second son could challenge his brother in the future and be a hindrance.

They wanted certainty before they placed their bets.

But this... this was just sad. The crowd couldn’t begin to understand what Duchess Seraphina was thinking when she announced this duel.

Because this duel served no purpose apart from making the third child of House Ravenshade look pathetic.

Sitting amidst the audience, Evangeline turned to Ravian and spoke in a somber tone.

"Hey, Ravian, I don’t like it. I don’t wanna watch this anymore, and I wish they would just stop it now."

She turned to the boy, who continued to struggle fruitlessly against Adrian. His golden hair was damp with sweat, and so were his white clothes. His face was heavily bruised from the punch he had received from Adrian.

Evangeline had been looking forward to a fight between two mana users. But this... it felt more like an adult bullying a child.

Ravian turned to her. He, too, had a somewhat somber expression on his face, just like hers.

"I don’t like it either. Honestly, I wish I could stop this duel now. But that’s not in our hands. But more than that, don’t you feel that Adrian is acting strangely?"

Evangeline turned to look at Adrian, who was beating his own younger brother without a hint of hesitation in his movements.

She shook her head.

"I don’t know."

What was normal behavior for Adrian? She couldn’t tell anymore, not after the incident in the slums.

Ravian turned to look at Adrian.

"From what I have learned after spending the time with him that I have, I would say Adrian would’ve found this duel tedious and would have wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. I even expected him to lunge forward and knock Elias out the moment the duel began and calmly walk away. But this..."

Ravian trailed off.

Just then, the two of them were distracted by someone’s muttering, causing them to look to the right. The girl sitting next to Evangeline was pulling her navy blue hair while muttering something they couldn’t quite make out.

"Doesn’t make sense; it just doesn’t! Have I gone crazy? Or is everyone aside from me crazy? Just who the hell is even beating that boy when he is alone on the fighting square?"

The two of them turned back and let out a tired sigh together.

***

Elias’s back hit the ground once again; every bone in his body ached. He didn’t have any strength to stand up again, and his throat felt dry.

"Ughhh... aghhh..."

His brother’s piercing grey eyes stared down at him.

"This is your last chance, Elias. Forfeit, or you will regret not doing so."

’Brother... there is no way I can do that...’

Not here, not in this situation. Because if he really did, then he knew he would continue to regret it for years.

But at this point, he was feeling so exhausted that he might lose consciousness any moment now. Which was why Elias was going to use his last resort.

’I didn’t want to use it, to be honest... it felt cowardly...’

But...

’Just one scratch...’

Even though he had learned the first level of an infusion art, Elias had chosen the path of a caster. And so, he had learned a spell within the year he had spent after reaching Phase One and being able to use mana.

It was a Tier One light element spell called "Illuminate."

This spell would create a blinding light for a few seconds that would probably cause everyone, including his brother, to squint their eyes. This could give Elias an opening to land an attack.

Elias gritted his teeth as all his leftover mana began to gather into his light palm, twisting and forming something resembling constellations.

’Just one scratch...’

The spell was only moments away from activating.

Elias tensed his aching muscles and readied himself to get up and lunge forward at any moment.

But at that moment, his brother stomped on his palm with his foot, crushing the spell entirely as the mana dissipated into the air as bluish wisps.

"Aahhhhh!"

The bones of his palm felt as though they might break.

His brother’s voice once again entered his ear.

"Elias, I warned you that you will regret it."

The next moment, a shadow fell on him, and the sole of his brother’s foot was looming above. His eyes widened in horror as goosebumps rose on his back. His heart began drumming wildly against his chest as his mind imagined his brother stomping on his body this time.

His trembling lips parted on their own as he unconsciously spoke.

"I forfeit..."