"Your son cannot be allowed to live, Dog. He already lost that chance when he used the Instant Spell on me.
I am not a merciful owner."
Vaan spoke and,
*BOOOOOOOOM*
A huge explosion was heard.
Vaan had fired his Instant Spell.
'Ignispike Pursuit'
And Vaan didn't end it there. He wasn't planning on repeating the same mistake he made when he was against Ronald. His family was Upright, Just, and whatever, he understood why they were like that and their reasoning, however,
Vaan was still Vaan.
The future benefits of having others fight for them, he understood them, however, Vaan was a short-sighted gangster and he wanted Karl dead.
Without any 'discussions' and to do that,
*Flicker*
'Instant Burn.'
A dangerous spell that burns the enemy to his death.
"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"
Karl screamed in agony as those flames burned his entire body.
Ignispike Pursuit attacked his chest, Instant Burn, however, was burning his entire body. Karl rolled his body, trying to get rid of flames and save himself, however, Instant Burn was simply too strong.
"YOU BASTARD!!"
On the other hand, Karl's father, whom Vaan ignored and attacked Karl was enraged. Unable to control his anger, 5 Magic Circles appeared around him, his hair floated in the air as the wind in the surroundings started moving unnaturally, a 10-meter-long wind spike formed in front of him, the spike was surrounded by strong wind currents.
It was Karl's Father's strongest spell, Windreaper's Torrent.
A spell strong enough to tear a normal man's body into pieces, giving him one of the most painful deaths possible. It was also a spell that was strong enough to penetrate most of the defenses, the chances of Vaan's Diamond Veil were high.
Vaan could sense that as well, a 10-meter huge spike with those wind currents surrounding it, he could clearly sense the strength behind that spell.
The strongest Spell of a 5th Circle Mage, there was no way he could defend against it.
"How dare you attack my son!?" Karl's father roared in anger, then,
*Whoosh*
The Torrent moved and shot towards Vaan.
Vaan covered his eyes out of instinct, his life flashed through his eyes. The Spell moved toward Vaan, the unnatural wind that moved his hair and clothes made him realize that death was close, Vaan prepared himself for the collision, however,
"…"
The 'collision' never happened.
The unnatural wind Vaan felt around him died down, confused, he opened his eyes and realized that the spell had stopped right in front of him. It was barely 10 cm away.
Vaan's heart was beating quickly, even though the spell had stopped, seeing a 10-meter spike right in front of his eyes was a horrifying experience, it was no different than having a shotgun pointed out at you, no, it was even scarier, rather than a shotgun, it was more like a missile.
Slowly, Vaan glanced at Karl's Father, he wanted to see why he stopped, Karl's father, however, had a frown on his face, it was as if he couldn't make sense out of this situation.
"Attacking my son out in the open, you sure have balls, Sidwig."
Then, a calm voice was heard.
Vaan, who recognized his mother's voice turned to look at her, but then, his eyes widened in surprise.
"S-She is flying!"
Someone in the crowd pointed out.
Astra was flying in the air and she looked down from above, she looked like a goddess looking down on the entire world. People who were witnessing that scene felt an urge to bow their heads and kneel down.
Karl's father, Sidwig, on the other hand, had paled in fear.
He finally realized what he had done in a fit of his anger.
"L-L-Lady As-Astra." He stuttered.
Astra, however, simply flicked her hand, the huge 10-meter Spike that horrified Vaan disappeared in an instant. Then Astra moved her hand again and pointed at Sidwig.
"!!!"
To his horror, Sidwig felt his entire body move, he tried to resist however, he was already in the air.
His and the crowd's eyes widened in shock as Sidwig's body flew into the air and moved towards Astra.
"I have been too lenient these days, haven't I? It seems people had forgotten who I used to be."
Astra commented, her tone and calm expression gave an impression that she wasn't bothered by these events, her black eyes, however, were different.
They were a little too calm.
To the point that it felt like they were… horrifyingly calm…
"L-Lady Astra. P-Please forgive me."
Sidwig begged for mercy. His entire body trembled in fear as he recalled some memories most of the people in the Vesta Family had buried in their hearts.
The Astra before Young Master Vaan was born.
The Horrifying Demon who wouldn't spare even her Blood Siblings.
The woman who with her insane magic talent gained power and support in the family, then used her advantage to thoroughly crush her siblings' attempts to get into the Battle of Heirs.
Yes, there was no 'Battle of Heirs' when Astra became the Family Head, that was because other than her, there was no competitor, she had crushed them and their factions. It was not just a figure of speech, Astra actually did crush all the factions who dared to stand against her, even going as far as spilling blood if she had to and she did all that with these exact same, horrifyingly calm eyes.
Astra was a tyrant. A horrifyingly emotionless and powerful tyrant who only calmed down after she met the love of her life and gave birth to her child.
Today, however, Sidwig could see those familiar eyes again.
Those eyes he saw all those years ago, at that time, he was only someone who had recently gotten into the Vesta Family because of his Magic Talent, even though he had no relation to those eyes whatsoever, he still feared them, today, however, those same eyes were directed at him.
"P-Please forgive me, I h-have made a g-grave mi-mistake. If you g-give me a chance, I will a-atone for my sins, I will serve Young Master Vaan with all my heart and soul. P-Please, Lady Astra, I have been loyal to the Vesta Family for 25 years, please forgive me."
Sidwig begged for mercy, trying to play the loyalty card to get out of this situation.
"Eliza."
Suddenly, Astra called out.
"At your command, Lady Astra."
A shadow appeared on the stage, kneeling next to Vaan. Vaan stepped back in surprise, he couldn't understand how this woman wearing black clothes just appeared out of thin air.
'Is she a ghost or something?' he wondered in his head. However, before he could think too much, he heard Astra's voice.
"What is the punishment for interrupting the Magic Duel between 2 mages?"
"Imprisonment in the Vesta Prison for 10 years, Lady Astra."
"What is the punishment for supporting someone who broke the rules of a Magic Duel?"
"Imprisonment for 4 years."
"Punishment for using Magic Spell on one of the duelists."
"8 Years."
Astra then glanced at Sidwig and,
"Punishment for attacking the direct descendent of the Vesta Family with the aim of taking his life."
"Public Execution, Lady Astra."
Eliza replied and as her voice echoed through the crowd, no one dared to speak even a single word.
"Lady Astra, please forgiv-"
Sidwig tried to beg for forgiveness, but then, he felt his vision spitting, words stopped coming out of his mouth, a frown appeared on his face as he couldn't understand what was happening, then finally,
The pain kicked in.
Sidwig's body was vertically split into two pieces.
Everything happened so fast that he didn't even get the chance to scream and his 'body' fell on the ground.
*Thud* *Thud*
Vaan was horrified.
He had seen many deaths in his previous life, death from bruises, knives, guns, and even shotguns, this one, however, was the scariest.
A 5th Circle Mage, a mage who can be the head of a normal Magic Family was killed like this without any resistance whatsoever.
And the woman who did it,
"Clean it up."
She simply ordered and walked towards Vaan.
"Are you okay?" She questioned.
Her tone still had that eerie calmness, however, Vaan could feel his mother's worry.
"Well I have the strongest mage protecting me, how could anything possibly happen to me?" Vaan chuckled.
"Your abnormal heartbeat doesn't seem to have the same opinion."
"I did witness a murder right before my eyes, after all."
Vaan replied as he glanced at Eliza, who was 'cleaning up' as she was ordered to.
"A murderer shouldn't be saying that," Astra spoke back, her eyes on Karl's charred body.
She didn't need someone else to check it, that boy was dead.
"You even made sure to kill him before anyone could stop you."
"I had bad memories of being interrupted last time."
"Heh, you really are my son." Astra shook her head as she chuckled.
"Was there any doubt in that?
I have Astra in my name."
Astra ruffled Vaan's hair, a beautiful smile could be seen on her face.
"Medics, thoroughly check his body and heal him."
Then, she turned towards the crowd and,
"The next battle will start in an hour.
As for today's incident,
Treat it like a warning.
Repeat this again and it won't end with just some tools being scraped."
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