Neither One

Neither: Thirty-One

LEO'S P.O.V

Father wasn't angry, he was worse than infuriated. I watched him secretly over my shoulder from time to time, afraid that he could have my head ripped off in a second if I was to make even just a single mistake.

It was quite obvious Damian was afraid by his presence because he had not spoken one word and he flinched with literally every grunt father made.

We were in his study, fixing up every damage we caused and unluckily for us, Father sat in a corner glaring daggers at us as his veins pulsated in anger. He had placed a ward that prevented us from using spells that go past level 2, making the work very tedious.

Although the joke was on Damian. Each attribute; light and dark had 50 and 45 spell levels respectively and unluckily for me, my level limit was a third of each class being one-third of each.

Meaning I could only cast at most a level 16 - 17 light spell and a level 15 dark spell. Anything higher than that, always turned out to be a blank. (Blank: It has no effect at all.)  But that didn't really stop me, the difference was filled up in strength because for example, a level 2 spell of mine can be as strong as the level 5 spell of another.

In a theoretical case, after getting a good grasp of my abilities, a level 3 shield of mine could successively block 3 consecutive hits of a level 7 spell before breaking. So the fact that the ward was placed was actually advantageous to me because in any case, using my level 2 spells would be the same as using level 5 or something like that.

Before I could register what was going on, there was a creak from above me and a shelf began falling down towards me. Almost immediately, there was a white flash of light and before the shelf could collide with me, Metal stood before me slashing the debris in two making it fall on both sides.

"Thanks but you kind of ended up causing more work for me. Wanna help?" I patted his head. Metal nodded. "Okay, umm... help me shelve these." I said handing some books to him. "Stupid cheater." Damian grumbled.

Get a summon. I shot back mentally.

Well, indirectly... I wasn't cheating. The ward wouldn't have allowed Metal but it did, meaning Metal probably didn't have a magic level because if I was to say, he would've been level 9 or 10.

"Quite a handy magic you have. I didn't tag you as a necromancer." Dad said after his anger had mildly dispersed. I was still at the end of my tethers talking back to him though.

I turned to look at him as I used revitalization magic to restore a book to its former state and I said "I'm not a necromancer."

"Well, those are the abilities of one. They are supposed to be dark summons. Plus, that knight looks familiar." He said pointing to Metal. Damian grunted, visibly grunted Father was conversing with me. I swallowed.

He knew, he probably did. If Damian could tell, Dad obviously knew. I'm screwed. "It reminds me of an old friend." He continued. Then, placing a hand on his chin as he scrunched his face in deep thought, he muttered to himself; "What was his name exactly? Can't remeber... I do know he loved calling himself the greatest puppet master in hell. Would always use the souls of politicians and corrupt men as worthless pawns and crush their souls when he's done with them."

"Atrufer." Damian mumbled. Dad's face lit up. "Aha! That's the one. I wonder where he is now though."

Should I tell him? I did. "H-He's d-dead." I thought out loud before I could stop myself. I turned around to watch dad's gaze that fell upon me. I couldn't read his expression but one thing I knew was that, his face... that wasn't happiness.

"How do you know?" He asked. I looked to Damian, he smirked with his back turned to me. Dad was probably friends with Atrufer and Damian knew I killed him, meaning Damian's smirk meant that father would dispose of me if he found out.

I rumbled with my fingers, thinking of the appropriate explanation to give, so I said; "We um... met. He attacked me. So, I umm... fought back." "... And you killed him?" Dad asked in shock.
"Was that wrong?" I asked.
"No. It's just, I'm shocked." He answered.

"Seriously? Maybe I guess you are powerful after all. The Atrufer I know would've hung you on a rack." Dad said. That isn't relieving at all. "He let his guard down." I explained, looking away.

"Typical Atrufer. Come here." Father called and I walked towards him before  stopping to stand in front of him. I flinched in fear but steadied myself as he places his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. No one had ever really don't that except Emily. I was deep in thought, but that didn't allow miss the low "I'm sorry." He let slide from his lips.

"What for?" I asked. "Never mind. Just meet me once you're done with fixing the study. There's something I would love you to see." He then surprised me. He smiled. My body stiffened. He wants to kill me. I just know it. I'm dead already. He's probably still angry. He probably hates me for fighting Damian and killing Atrufer. I'm going to die aren't I?  I nodded slowly and turned around to go back to finish what I started as Damian and I locked eyes briefly before my ego made me scoff and look away.

***********

"Pacreatō" I chanted as a gust of wind guided the remaining books to the available positions. Father had gone out a while ago, leaving me and Damian together. Emily had been taken home earlier. I just silently hoped I wasn't gonna die.

"Show off!" Damian scoffed holding up a purple magic circle which spun anti-clockwise and I watched as a stack of destroyed books, journals and papers reverted back to their original forms under his magic. I gawked wondering if space magic was related to time.

"This is totally dumb and unfair." He grumbled. "What is?" I asked showing mild concern. "You have that dumb knight to help you, while I'm here wasting mana." He said pointing to metal who held his sword and probably glared at Damian. I feel you Metal, I want to kill him too. I thought.

"Summons slowly use up Mana  you know?" I said. "Ugh! Whatever. Stop talking to me." He rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath; "Black should've killed you. It would've been better that way." I just hugged and manually stuffed a book into the shelf next to me. Still a prick.

*********

Well, the study was finally fully fixed and Damian had left before it was even done, leaving me to do the rest of the work. Meanwhile, I sat opposite Metal trying to find a way for us to communicate since he has no sense of speech. He could understand me clearly though.

"Hmm... Can you read?" I asked, he nodded sideways. "Write?" I asked again, same response. Then almost comically, an exclamation mark appeared on his head made of golden flames and he walked over to Father's desk, picked up a feather, dipped it in ink and scribbled something on a piece of paper on the table.

"I guess you can write after..." I paused my speech and doubled over in laughter as he rose up the piece of paper to reveal a bad and ugly looking scribble of a line that goes round and round itself multiply. "I take my words back." I laughed. Metal slouched.

Then, before I could talk further, both out attentions shot towards the door when it opened and dad walked it. Metal let out a curt bow before disappearing into thin air. "Oh, hey dad." I greeted. He flashed me a slight smile before ordering;
"Follow me."

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