Blade Over Magic

Falael?

"... Are they okay?" At some point, Aubrey had walked over to see what was going on, but she saw a pretty odd scene.

Inside the wind cage, Curtis, in his wolf form, was sitting while looking up in a daze. It was a far cry from the previous feral behavior he exhibited.

As for Xander, he was standing in front of Curtis, looking at his sword with a somewhat blank expression, yet he was smiling.

From an outsider’s perspective, seeing a massive white wolf and a human staying still like that would look odd, and Aubrey was no exception.

Mary glanced at her before speaking.

"Milord appears to have had an epiphany. In the process, he seems to have resolved the issue plaguing Curtis." She explained simply, and Aubrey blinked before looking at them again.

While Curtis seemed to be in a daze, his eyes were no longer wild and wholly without rationality, while Xander’s eyes were incomparably. This brought a bit of a smile to Aubrey’s face.

’Everyone’s improving. That said...’ Her smile faded a little, and she turned her head in the direction Falael had gone, her brows knitting in slight worry.

’Is it almost that time already...?’

***

Inside the residence, in the area containing guest rooms, Falael lay on their bed in their own room, their body covered in a blanket.

Their face was flushed, as though they were having a fever, and they were sweating. Currently, they were breathing carefully, expression one of concentration and trepidation as underneath the covers, their body was undergoing some... changes.

’Damnit... what dreadful timing...’ They thought through controlled breaths, something Xander thought them during one of their body strengthening lessons.

They recalled that specific session. Xander had told them about how simply casting a spell isn’t all that there is to it. As their body is the vessel through which their spells are cast, they need to keep it in an optimal state at all times, and breathing in specific ways helped that specific process.

They recalled how Xander had demonstrated and guided them. How he’d helped position their body during the training. The proximity. The physical contact...

Falael gritted their teeth and closed their eyes tightly.

’This is all his fault... damn Xander...’ They tried to think about anything else to distract them, but it was like a dam had broken. They thought back to all the times they had interacted. How Xander had watched them seriously when they first formed their star. How he’d compliment them when they did a good job or encourage them when they were feeling down or discouraged.

How cool he looked whenever he entered ’thinking mode’ and solved complex problems their seniors struggled with, like with Landor.

That stupid joke he made by weaponizing context when he made their training sessions sound like intimate nights.

That... that damn crazed smile he had when they watched the recording on his fight against the ant. He... he had no reason to be so damn attractive!

And those eerie that made them feel like he was looking into the depths of their soul... ah...

It was then that Falael knew that their fate was sealed.

’I’m so screwed... Damn you... Xander...’

***

The next day, Xander continued his training sessions with the Lowell retinue. After thorough beating their asses, they finally folded and let him teach them properly.

And Xander had to say... they had a LOT of bad habits. After watching them demonstrate their current skills, it took him all his willpower not to just beat them all up again. He reminded himself that he was an instructor, and his job was to teach them, not hurt them. As things were, he was already on thin ice with his siblings. News of him abusing the retinue the day before obviously spread, so he had to be careful.

If there was one saving grace, though, it was that, objectively speaking, they were still veterans with real experience, hence, they were good at adapting. Add this with their strong bodies they had honed for years, and Xander got the feeling that they weren’t actually too terrible, and perhaps in just a few days, he’d be able to teach them real swordsmanship.

He found it hardtop revel in this fact, though, as on one of the walkways some ways away from the training field, Xander’s half-sister, Claire, was just... standing there.

Menacingly.

Her green eyes seemed to watch his every move, as it was only when the training session came to an end, and the knights complained about feeling sore in places they didn’t even know could feel sore, did she turn away and return to wherever.

’Just how much time does she have on her hands? Isn’t she meant to be like, super busy or something?’ He grumbled internally as he walked down the field to where the others were, and an interesting scene was playing out.

On one side, Curtis in his wolf form could be seen roughhousing with Keir. Ever since Curtis’s mental state stabilized as he made peace with his own nature, he’d become more expressive, leaning more into the wolf part of him without actually letting it take full control, and Keir seemed to very much enjoy the physical activity as they rolled around in the grass.

But that wasn’t even the strange thing.

The strange thing was that there was just... a living room with only three walls, like that of a stage, just sitting there, and inside, there was a table with three chairs. At these chairs sat Aubrey, Mia, and Mary, and they were all... playing cards.

Quite seriously, too.

For context, this "living room", table, chairs, and even the cards, were all Information Projections made by Aubrey. According to her, she was diversifying her use of the ability so that she would have a more open mind.

On top of this—and this was in Mary’s words—the cards weren’t just for fun but actually served a training purpose, too.

In short, mental training.

Apparently, Mia and Mary intentionally lowered their levels to Aubrey’s approximate level, so all of them were playing a real game of cards where they had to control their expressions, make the right calls, or bluff when they needed to. And from what he could see, it was pretty intense. So much so that none of the three girls looked at him when he got close.

’Oh, Xander, are you done?’ That said, Curtis and Keir did notice him, and they immediately stopped their roughhousing and immediately came over.

As soon as they did, a torrent of cold wind engulfed Curtis’s figure, and when it vanished, he stood there in his human form, however, there were some differences compared to before.

His previously dark hair was now a snow white, reflecting the fur he had when he transformed. But more importantly, his human ears were gone, and instead, two pointed, purred ears sat atop his head. And behind him, a similarly furred tail swayed gently.

Evidently, he was far more in tune with himself than before. It was almost baffling.

"Yeah, just got done." He pointed at the girls. "How is that going?" Keir spoke this time.

"The scores are 2-1-1. With Mia having 2. It’s surprisingly interesting. Wouldn’t play myself, though." Xander was surprised at that. He understood that Mia was probably holding back hard, but the fact that Mary and Aubrey even managed to get points on her at all was interesting.

With that said, he looked around and asked.

"By the way, where’s Falael? Are they still mad about yesterday?" Xander scratched his head. Surely they couldn’t still be moping. At the very least, they would just hide their embarrassment behind snark and sarcasm. Their pride preventing them from moping for too long.

However, as soon as he voiced his question, Curtis’s expression turned... strange, and Keir just looked at him.

"Yeah... you got it." Without another word, he spread his wings and shot into the sky.

Xander’s eyes followed him with a smile before they looked back at Curtis who was rubbing one of his ears nervously.

"... Curtis? Did something happen?" Curtis flinched and looked away, his smile screaming that he did not wanna be there.

"W-Well, you should recall that... Elves and half-elves... are genderless up until they are 18... or they meet someone they like... making them change into the opposing gender..." Xander frowned but nodded slightly.

"Yeah. But Falael is still 17. Their birthday isn’t until a few months. What does that have to do with anything?" He raised a brow, and somehow, Curtis with his unnaturally low body temperature was sweating buckets.

"Y-You see... Last night, they... uh..."

"That’s enough, Curtis. He can see it for himself." A familiar, yet strangely unfamiliar voice suddenly cut through the air.

Mia, Mary, and Aubrey temporarily put down their cards, and Xander turned to see Falael.

"Okay, what’s going... on...?" Xander’s voice trailed off as he saw them.

...

Them?

Falael typically wore a mage robe, but he’d seen them in other things, so Xander had a clear impression of what their full body looked like. So when he saw them in a simple shirt and pants, he expected to see something familiar. And yet, what he was seeing... didn’t quite match the image in his brain.

The face was the same... but also different. More... gentle, features softer and... feminine, and dare he say beautiful? And the hair also went down their back, soft and... silky?

Their waist was smaller... but hips were wider, thighs more supple, and chest quite a bit bigger. The skin overall was smoother, with fuller lips...

"Are you done ogling?" The voice came out annoyed, but there was also a deep sense of embarrassment... and possibly fear underneath.

"Falael, you... you..." Xander’s words failed him, and Falael just raised their... their? arms in what was meant to be a nonchalant shrug.

"Yup." The ’p’ was emphasized with a little more force than necessary as a startling set of words was uttered.

"I’m a female now. No thanks to you."