Blade Over Magic

Back in the Lowell Residence

Needless to say, the different representatives were not happy by the turn of events in the slightest.

Watching Xander and co receive their graduation slips as well as the accolades they deserved after Landor. They came expecting to acquire or suppress some naive but talented kids, yet they got done in terribly.

The ceremony—if you could even call it that—was small. The Major General simply handed each member of the group a medal, a scroll indicating their graduation, and documents that spoke of their deeds.

Perhaps if they had gone through the process the normal way and graduated after 4 years, the moment would have been far more impactful. But honestly, the group just wanted to get it over with.

One thing to note, though, was that one perk of their graduation allowed them to be able to join the military at any given moment. Which wasn’t a terrible thing to have.

Eventually, it ended, and the different representatives left, but when it was the turn of those from the Mage Tower to leave, the closest one stepped near Xander. This made the others immediately tense up, but Xander just glanced at him.

The older man looked Xander up and down, then he sneered.

"Don’t think things will end here. It’s only just beginning. You think you can hide under your father’s umbrella? He isn’t the only Archmage in the world. Soon enough, you’ll be forced out, and when that happens, there will be no one to save you." With that, he and his companion left.

’Talk about petty.’ Falael scoffed.

’Considering who their leader is, it tracks.’ Aubrey shook her head.

At that moment, a familiar figure stood in front of them. Sergeant Alya inspected the group with a note of curiosity. It seemed like she wasn’t annoyed by the way things turned out.

"Hm. So much progress in just a month. You really are my students." When she said that, the group genuinely just stared at her in bewilderment.

How... could she say something so shameless?

She made it sound like they achieved so much ONLY because they had been her students.

Curtis scratched his head in very visible confusion.

"Uh... thanks?" Because what else was he supposed to say to that?

Alya just smiled faintly and walked out, her hips swaying hypnotically as she passed the doors.

It’s then that Samuel approached, his signature smile on his face.

"Well, judging by your reactions, it seems like things went according to plan?" His appearance caused the faces of Aubrey and Falael to harden. Aubrey especially.

She’d been doing something with her Library recently, so her observations were kept to a minimum. But in this moment, she allowed herself to ’see’ properly, and what she saw made her pupils constrict.

She opened her mouth, but just then, Samuel glanced at her. His smile still visible, but his eyes holding a coldness that did not match his frame.

It happened in an instant, so it didn’t seem like anything strange happened from an outsider’s perspective.

"And you’re still here because....?" Xander raised a brow, and Samuel just chuckled.

"Nothing much, just ensuring you remember what I told you before. At this rate, you lot are gonna be much more... ’helpful’ in the times to come. But I won’t take much of your time. Bye~." He waved one glove hand and stepped out.

’... Xander, that guy is...’ Aubrey started with a frown.

’I know.’ He nodded subtly. ’He isn’t human.’ That made Falael and Curtis blink.

’... I thought that was obvious? Isn’t he like, a half-Dwarf with that height?’ Falael asked, but the two of them only shook their heads.

It may look that way on paper, but after observing him using intent, Xander found something odd.

He’d briefly activated the Myriad Paths to their fullest, and when he looked directly at Samuel, there was... nothing.

It wasn’t the same as Xavier or Mia where they could simply hide their Paths. No, where Samuel was meant to be in the world of Myriad Paths, there was simply nothing. Like he didn’t exist.

Which made no sense, as everyone could clearly see him with their eyes and watch him interact with the physical world.

However, Xander did not bring it up. He did not know why, but he had a feeling something bad would happen if he did.

Moreover, despite his calculative personality, Samuel wasn’t malicious in any way, so Xander just decided to leave him be for now.

Sparing one last glance at Major General Collins who just sat at the head of the table, the group finally stepped out of the manor.

When they did, Mia—who had been sleeping soundly—on Xander’s back, opened her eyes.

"Ready to go?" She asked, and Xander nodded, then paused.

"Also, they know we’re coming, right? We won’t accidentally trigger an exaggerated response over appearing out of nowhere?" He asked clarifyingly.

"Xavier should have made the corresponding arrangements." She shrugged and snapped her fingers, teleporting the group.

***

It took Xander a moment to acclimate to suddenly having his surroundings change, but when he did, he found himself standing in a familiar area.

’The Lowell Residence.’ Before them was the main residence of the Lowell family in all of its opulent glory. However, Xander did not have much time to bask in this feeling as a figure stood a few feet in front of them.

It was a woman. She was quite tall, standing almost at Curtis’s height. She wore a fitted green dress which hugged her blessed curves snugly and complemented her eerie green eyes, one of which was hidden by a tuft of blond hair, and the rest cascaded down her back, stopping at her waist. Her face held an almost ethereal sense of beauty, and most lesser men would have found themselves completely enraptured.

Xander, however, was trying not to break out in a cold sweat. After all, he recognized this woman. How wouldn’t he?

She was one of his siblings, after all. Or half-sibling.

He opened his mouth to speak, only to notice her aiming a finger at him.

Then he noticed lines of intent converging towards his skull, and he didn’t even think.

His Zweihander appeared in his hands, and he took a stance in which his entire body essentially acted like a singular structure with supports, at the same time, he used one of his few purely defensive skills.

Fortress Wall

A brown suffused into his sword just as a blast of pure Mana reached him.

It struck the tip of the blade, the force behind it bordering tyrannical, but Xander managed to hold firm. Moreover, the empty metal at the tip of the blade helped as it absorbed some of the incoming Mana.

Soon, the attack ended, and Xander was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw two magic circles appear by his sides aiming at his half-sister, one from Falael and the other from Curtis.

’Wait wait wait! She’s not malicious, it was a test!’ Aubrey was the one to shout through the telepathic link, and Xander nodded quickly.

’Yeah! Don’t attack!’ Hearing this, Curtis and Falael lowered their wands, the latter snorting, but not before glaring at Xander’s half-sister.

’Phew.’ He exhaled inwardly, he would rather not have an all out altercation when they just arrived.

Seeing as things settled, she spoke in a calm, slightly unimpressed tone.

"If you couldn’t handle that much, I would have personally removed you lot from this place. Can’t have incompetent people leveraging the family name." From those words alone, it was clear that she wasn’t happy with the current events.

Without another word, she turned and left.

’... The hell is her problem?’ Falael frowned, and Xander sighed.

’That’s Claire. She’s a bit... intense.’ He explained, pulling upon the memories the previous Xander had of his half-siblings.

’Attacking your own blood, even if it’s a half-sibling, that’s a little much, no?’ Even Curtis found the whole thing baffling, and Xander just pinched the bridge of his nose.

’To be frank, I never really had much of a reputation among them before now. And now that things have developed in this direction, that reputation is probably turning for the worse...’ Indeed, the original Xander’s memories painted a picture in which they didn’t really care about him all that much, and they mostly just left him to his own devices.

However, now that Xander had leveraged on Xavier’s position and essentially thrown the entire family into a political battlefield, there was bound to be some irritation at the very least.

’... That’s still rude, she didn’t even lead us inside.’ Falael seemed determined to grumble.

But just then, torrents of wind suddenly appeared and began to condense around in front of the group. It then condensed into a humanoid figure, and when the wind dispersed, a person everyone there was familiar with could be seen.

Xander smiled softly as Mary gave an elegant bow towards them.

"I have been awaiting you arrival, Milord." She straightened, and there was the faintest smile on her face.

Xander exhaled, and he felt more at home seeing her here compared to when he laid eyes on the Manor.

He nodded slightly and spoke.

"It’s great to see you, Mary."