As the command left Arthur's lips, the air rippled—but the expected crushing force never arrived. The spell simply vanished before reaching the boys, as if the laws of physics chose to step aside for them.
"What? I don't understand... why did it fail?" Arthur stammered, his hand still trembling from the effort.
"I simply used Reverse Gravity to counter your output," Leo replied casually. "It's basic push-and-pull mechanics. If you match the frequency perfectly, the effects nullify."
"Is that really all you've got?" Leon added, his voice dripping with disappointment. "I didn't allow myself to be kidnapped just to see a mediocre gravity spell."
Pushed to the brink of madness by their mockery, Arthur's face contorted. He roared, summoning a dual-element barrage of jagged lightning and roaring fire, launching the twin streaks of destruction at the children.
"Dispel," Leon muttered.
"Turn Null," Leo echoed.
The fire died and the lightning flickered out into nothingness before they even crossed half the room. Arthur stood stunned; he was a Head of the Ravens, yet his most lethal magic was being treated like a flickering candle.
"Do you actually believe he has more to offer?" Leo asked his brother. "He doesn't look strong."
"That is enough mockery!" Arthur screamed. He began a deep, guttural chant that made the stone beneath them vibrate. "All heavens of pure darkness, curse hell's white light; summon the void, let the dark energy consume all!"
With a violent tear in reality, the throne room vanished. They were suddenly standing in a pocket dimension—a void of swirling violet mists and ancient, oppressive energy. Arthur laughed hysterically, his form glowing with newfound power.
"This is the Unbreakable Realm!" he shouted. "No ability can shatter these walls! It absorbs every attack you throw, fueling me further. In here, I am a god! I am undefeated!"
He expected to see the boys trembling.
Instead, he saw them looking around in absolute awe. Their minds weren't filled with fear, but with the endless possibilities of a realm that could absorb infinite energy.
"Unbreakable, he says..." Leo whispered, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
"And it absorbs energy so nothing escapes to the outside world?" Leon asked, his smile returning with a terrifying edge.
Since the incident at the palace, the King had forbidden them from sparring for a full year. They had been pent-up, frustrated, and desperate for a place where they could truly test their limits. Now, a villain had just handed them the perfect "safe room."
"This is perfect... it's perfection," Leo muttered.
"Shall we?" Leon asked.
Seeing that the princes were still ignoring him, Arthur lost the last of his patience. He ordered Luther to charge, preparing to join the knight in an all-out assault to finally break the boys' spirits.
The smiles on the princes' faces faded instantly, replaced by the cold efficiency of researchers clearing away a nuisance.
"En-chained," Leo muttered.
Heavy, unbreakable spectral chains erupted from the void, pinning Arthur's limbs in four directions. He thrashed, but the more he struggled, the tighter the mana bound him.
"Paralyze," Leon whispered toward Luther.
The A-rank swordsman collapsed mid-stride, his body hitting the floor like a statue. He couldn't move a muscle, unable to even blink.
With the distractions dealt with, the two princes turned away from the "villains" and faced each other. The sinister, joyful smiles returned to their faces. They stood in the center of the unbreakable void, their auras beginning to flare with enough intensity to make the "god" of the realm choke in terror.
The real battle was finally about to begin.
Leon and Leo launched toward one another, their fists colliding with a sound like a mountain splitting. The impact sent a series of violent shockwaves through the void, rattling the very foundations of the pocket dimension. Their movements were so blindingly fast that even an A-rank mage like Arthur found it nearly impossible to track them.
Are they... truly just children? Arthur thought, his mind reeling as he watched the blur of their combat.
The brothers broke apart only to launch toward one another again. After a particularly heavy clash that sent them both skidding back, Leon instinctively lifted a single finger.
"Black Hole," he muttered.
"Ver-Nis In-Sin-Go-La," Leo countered instantly.
A swirling orb of pure darkness and a brilliant white singularity appeared simultaneously. They launched the opposing forces at one another, and the spells nullified upon impact. But they didn't stop there. The boys began "spamming" the high-level spells, creating hundreds of singularities that filled the void like a field of black and white stars.
Those are elite, S-rank spells... Arthur thought, petrified. And these kids are treating them like playground toys.
Suddenly, the barrage stopped. A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the realm as Leon began a voiceless incantation. It was a forbidden spell, one capable of obliterating an S-rank mage if cast improperly, and powerful enough to wound a Demon Lord.
"That's madness!" Arthur screamed from his chains. "You can't attempt such a spell! It's too much!"
On the other side of the void, Leo began his own chant. Unlike Leon's silent method, Leo's spell was drawn directly from his lips without a single spoken word—a feat of pure mana manipulation.
What is that? Arthur's eyes bulged. That magic shouldn't exist. I've practiced every known spell in the kingdom, but these children... they are giving magic a new meaning.
The two spells collided.
Reality itself groaned and then tore wide open. The "unbreakable" dimension shattered like glass, and everything within it was obliterated. In his final moments, Arthur Winfield didn't scream. He smiled. He realized he had witnessed the true pinnacle of magic in the form of these two monstrosities.
As the pocket dimension dissolved, the wreckage of the Ravens' dark stronghold was revealed. The building had sustained extreme damage, and both Arthur and Luther had been disintegrated into nothingness.
"No! It's destroyed," Leon muttered, looking at the rubble in disappointment.
"Guess it wasn't so 'unbreakable' after all," Leo added, sounding equally displeased. He looked at his brother. "Shall we continue?"
Leon sighed, the battle-fever fading. "No, I don't think this place can survive any more. Besides, Father would be furious if we broke his rules twice in one month."
"Alright, fine," Leo agreed. "Maybe we'll get another chance someday. But I have an idea! Let's race back to the castle. No teleportation allowed. Whoever gets there first gets two of the three remaining demons for their research!"
"You're on," Leon replied, his eyes sparking with competitive fire.
Leo shot a tiny ball of light into the sky. The moment it exploded, the two princes vanished into the horizon, moving like streaks of lightning. In the end, the race resulted in a perfect tie, and the brothers—ever the efficient researchers—agreed to split the last of their demonic subjects.
A week later, Prince Marcel, the eldest of the royal siblings, decided to take his two youngest brothers on an excursion to a nearby waterfall. They traveled in a royal carriage, accompanied by three maids and a detail of four elite guards.
Throughout most of the journey, Leo and Leon remained curled up, seemingly fast asleep. However, as the carriage approached the dense woods near the falls, the air grew tense. Suddenly, a pack of over fifty wolves emerged from the shadows, surrounding the cradle.
The carriage lurched to a halt. The four guards leaped down, swords drawn, ready to give their lives to defend the princes. But the moment their feet touched the dirt, the wolves began to collapse. One by one, the beasts dropped dead without a single wound on their bodies.
The guards stood frozen, bewildered by the sudden mass expiration of the pack. Shrugging off the mystery as a stroke of divine luck, they signaled the journey to continue. Inside the carriage, Leo shifted in his "sleep," burying his face in his cushion to hide the small, knowing smile playing on his lips.
They soon arrived at the waterfall—a towering, thundering curtain of crystalline water. Having only seen the small, decorative fountains within the palace walls, the two princes were genuinely awestruck by the raw majesty of nature.
While the staff set up camp, Leo and Leon wandered off, sitting a short distance away from the group. They spoke quietly about the beauty of the world and the mysteries they had yet to explore. After a comfortable silence, Leon took a breath and asked a question that hit Leo like a physical weight.
"Leo... what do you think about reincarnation?"
Leo's heart hammered against his ribs. What am I supposed to say? He took a moment to compose himself, deciding to play along cautiously. "I don't really know... but I believe it's possible."
Leon stared at his brother for a long moment before turning his gaze back to the falling water. "Leo, would you believe me if I told you I was reincarnated?"
"I would," Leo replied softly.
"In my first life, there was no magic. I was a hardworking student," Leon began. "But I was summoned to another world to be a Hero—to save them from total destruction. I kept that kingdom safe for years, until a final encounter with a Demon Lord led to my death." He paused, looking at Leo.
"That's interesting," Leo added, his voice steady. "Because I was reincarnated, too."
"Really?" Leon asked, his academic composure finally breaking into disbelief.
"Yeah. I was a worker in a modern city where magic was nothing but a fairy tale. I died in an accident and woke up here. That's why I've been so obsessed with learning everything about this world's magic."
"Wow," Leon whispered. "That's sad, but slightly different from my path. My life as a Hero was a long time ago; that's why I'm obsessed with ancient, forgotten magic. It's what I used to know."
"What was your name as a Hero?" Leo asked, a strange suspicion beginning to take root in his mind.
"They called me the Red Demon Slayer. My name was Mikasi Haruna."
Leo's eyes widened. He had seen that name in history books, but something else was nagging at him. "You said you were summoned. So, after you died as a Hero, you came straight here?"
"No," Leon said, his voice dropping into a somber tone. "I was first reincarnated in a modern world, just like yours. I spent that life trying to find a way back to my magic, but it was impossible. I never found love, never started a family... I only had my best friend. He was the only one who supported me, who believed I wasn't crazy. But he died."
"That's tragic," Leo said, his breath hitching. "How did that life end?"
"After the accident... I was the one they called to identify him. He had no one else. He had left his family behind because he felt like a disappointment. When I got to the accident site and saw him... I was devastated. It's the last thing I remember before being born here. I think my heart just gave out. Funny, right?" Leon forced a painful, false smile.
Leo sat in a stunned silence. The story was too familiar. Every detail felt like a mirror of his own memories. He looked at his brother, his voice trembling as he asked the final question.
"Do you remember the name of that best friend?"
Leon's expression crumbled into pure, raw sadness. He looked at the water and muttered the name that had haunted him for two lifetimes.
"Yuki Utaski."