Sibling Rivarly
"Took you long enough." Mereo, who was now at the age of 15 said as she prodded Merlin's shoulder. Then she noticed that he was carrying a large staff with no Grimoire insight. Confused she asked, "What's with the stick? And where's your Grimoire? Don't tell me you didn't get one."
"Don't worry, I got my Grimoire. Besides, this isn't a 'stick', it's my staff. Or rather, my Grimoire." Merlin said, tapping the staff onto the ground as it dissolved into flower petals that disintegrated into Mana. In the middle of it all was an exquisite Grimoire, rainbow in colour.
Mereo had her eyes widened at how he was able to have his Grimoire take on a different form, as well as the fact that his Grimoire was so beautiful."I can't believe you managed to get something so great, what magic type did you get?"
"Omni-Magic." Merlin started with a smile.
"Omni-Magic? Well, I have seen you use multiple types of magic, so, I guess it makes sense. Well, besides that, once I get my Grimoire, you better be prepared to get your ass handed to you!" Mereo declared with a largely determined grin on her face.
Merlin merely laughed at this, which irked her."Laugh while you can! I'll be getting my Grimoire tomorrow anyway, so don't get too cocky, Merlin" Mereo said, pointing into Merlin's chest.
"Now now, no need to go so confrontational. Besides, if I recall correctly, you still have yet to beat me," Merlin said, swatting her finger away and turning his Grimoire back into his staff, before changing the subject. "So, about tonight. I heard that you challenged Fuego to a duel. Are you sure that's a wise move? Although it does sound like fun, I can feel that this duel won't be the same as the others."
"It doesn't concern you. This is about him, and me." Mereo said, crossing her arms.
"You do know that Acier would get upset with you, right? She might even teach you a lesson after all this." Merlin said as the two proceeded towards the Vermilion Estate.
Hearing Merlin bringing up her teacher's name, Mereo frowned for a moment, then said, "Do you really not have faith in me?"
"You know that's not what I meant." Merlin smiled wryly, "I just don't understand why you two are always bickering with one another. Doesn't it get tiring?"
"Of course, you wouldn't know, you don't have any siblings," Mereo said, then frowning immediately and apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like-"
Merlin ruffled Mereo's hair and said, "I know you didn't mean anything by that. Besides, all of that's in the past."
Mereo nodded, then gave a large grin and said, "Well, look at you. You finally got the balls to make a move on me? It's always been me trying to drag you away with me."
Merlin removed his hand, but Mereo quickly caught it. "Not so fast, Merlin."
"You do know this is how rumours start, right?" Merlin said defeatedly.
"Who cares about those upstarts. If they've got a problem with me, let them come. I'll just have to teach them all a lesson. Besides, I'm making a statement to all those harlots that are trying to get into your pants." Mereo said, tightening the grip she had on Merlin's hand, as Merlin only shook his head.
The words of Fuego surfaced in his mind once more, 'The woman born from our family can be quite aggressive, especially sis. Good luck.'
'You couldn't be more right, Fuego.' Merlin thought to himself, remembering all the times Mereo would always run after him and try to kidnap him so that they could go and train out in the wilderness, spending some nights there too. Of course, nothing risque happened.
This did cause some uproar in the Noble circle's since they all know how the women in the Vermillion family are extremely straightforward in their pursuit of love.
After a short while of walking together, with various glances and whispers directed at the two, the pair finally reached the Vermilion Estate.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Tomorrow, after I get my Grimoire, I want to take you to where Acier takes me when we go to train." Mereo said.
"Hm, sure. I should be free tomorrow. Although, I have something important to take care of the day after that." Merlin said.
"Something important? Don't tell me it's another one of your escapades with Julius?" Mereo shook her head and said, "Even though he's a Magic Knight Captain, I can't believe you two would just run around and do whatever you want like children. I've been hearing a lot of stories of how you two would act extremely unprofessional, even people are saying you two are besmirching the Noble lineage."
"Let them say what they want. I and Julius have great fun outside, experimenting with all kinds of magic, especially when we find new types we haven't seen before. Besides, I'm technically still a child, so I can at least have a bit of leeway." Merlin retorted.
"Yeah right! Since when have you ever acted your age, ever since I knew you, you would always talk to us like how my mother would, lecturing us on this and that." Mereo said, complaining.
Merlin swung his hand that was holding hers back and forth, saying, "What can I say, I mature faster than others."
Mereo merely rolled her eyes, but tightened her grip around his fingers, saying, "At least Julius should act more mature, he's a Magic Knight Captain! Ah, forget about that. Just tell me what you've got going on that you can't tell me."
Merlins shrugged, thinking that it can't hurt to at least tell her a bit."This time, it doesn't have to do with Julius. But rather it has to do with my House, or rather, the curse surrounding it."
Mereo narrowed her eyes and said, "That curse? What about it? You aren't going to try anything stupid now, are you?"
"Now now, it's nothing that extreme. It's merely just me and Sebastian going over some things about my family's history." Merlin said, lying about the situation to protect her and ease her worries.
Mereo narrowed her eyes further, then shook her head and said, "Whatever, it's not like you can't protect yourself, especially with Sebastian there. But, if you do ever need help, just send word." Merlin smiled and nodded
"Merlin, you're here!" Fuego's voice came from the side, as he walked towards the two. Now at age 15, he grew taller, with his hair having gotten longer. On the centre of his forehead was a diamond-shaped mark that signified his oath of one day surpassing Nozel and becoming king. Seeing them holding hands, he smirked and got close to Merlin, whispering, "So, did sis make another move on you? Or, was it you?"
Merlin pushed him away and said, "You Vermilions are crazy. How is she so different from you, Fuego?"
Fuego shook his head and said, "It's mostly just her being the rowdiest and undisciplined child in the family."
"What the hell did you say? Besides, aren't you trying to become a Magic Knight and join those other weaklings?" Mereo taunted him.
Fuego frowned and said, "The reason for this duel is because you keep disparaging the Magic Knights and your attitude! You're probably too weak to even join them, and all of this disparaging is just you covering for your insecurities, sister."
Mereo punched towards Fuego's punch instantly, causing him to block the blow as the pressure from their blow expanded outwards and blew the leaves from the ground into the air.
"Looks like you want to start the duel early, isn't that right, sis?" Fuego said as he channelled more Mana into himself, causing a fiery aura to envelop his body.
"You're here, I'm here, what's there to wait for? I'll show you that the Magic Knights would just be a waste of time for me." Mereo said as she grinned widely, showcasing the trademark canine that she had. Her body was covered with a fiery aura, as the two's Mana signatures started to collide with each other.
Stepping away, Merlin smiled and said, "Don't hurt each other too much now. Let me know when you two are done." He then jumped away into the air as a broom materialized underneath him, allowing him to watch the fight from above. The broom itself was nothing special, just something he shaped with Mana.
Watching the standoff from the top, he leaned the staff on his body and manifested an apple, taking a bite.
The moment they heard the bite, the two's aura started to get larger and rushed forwards to trade blows. Even though Fuego was 2 years younger than Mereo, that doesn't mean he's that much weaker than her. For a kid his age, he still has superb control of Mana.
"Oh no, they're fighting again!"
"I have a feeling this is going to be bigger than the previous fights…"
The servants and people around the Vermilion Estate were talking to one another as they ran for cover away from the siblings' duel.
Hearing the people around him, Merlin snapped his fingers as an invisible Mana zone bubble enveloped the Vermillion estate, in a bid to keep the damage at least to a minimum.
From a far off distance, Julius noticed a large fluctuation of Mana, turning his head towards the Vermillion estate, thinking, 'Was that from Merlin? Or are they fighting each other again? Ahhh, I wanna go watch, but I need to finish my duties first…'
"Is that the best you've got?! You're gonna have to do better than that if you even want to think about surpassing Nozel, let alone me!" Mereo cried out, using her Mana to extend out claws made of fire to punch towards Fuego.
Throwing both of his hands forward, Fuego extended a wall made of fire to protect him, then caused it to explode outwards towards Mereo. The surrounding area started to catch fire quickly, with the numerous trees and plants combusting instantly.
Merlin merely just floated above them, and when he saw the flames starting to spread towards the surrounding greenery, he quickly put them out with some water magic as the siblings continued duking it out.
Jumping onto the roof of their estate, catching them ablaze, the two jumped towards each other, crashing into one another as they both punched each other at the same time, sending out a rippling explosion that broke a portion of the building below them.
The fight continued on for a while longer, with both sides punching and kicking each other, shooting out blasts of fire in between, practically trying to burn down the entire Vermilion Estate.
The two got ready to land a final blow on each other once again, but Merlin suddenly restrained the both of them with a minor version of Julius's Chrono Stasis, but only aimed at their limbs, locking the muscles in their body.
"Now now, that should be enough. How about we just call this a tie? Besides, you probably wouldn't want to keep fighting if you've seen the damage you two caused." Merlin said, dropping the two back onto the ground as he unfroze them.
"Why did you have to interrupt, Merlin! I was about to thrash him into the ground!" Mereo shouted, pouncing towards Merlin.
Merlin merely flew higher and out of the way on his broom and said, "It's better if I did, since I can sense a certain someone's Mana getting closer, and she does not seem happy."
Mereo gulped instantly, while Fuego himself lamented the fact that the fight was stopped abruptly, but then saw the damage the two caused to their estate. Many of the trees in the area had to be doused out with magic, while a portion of the estate was damaged as well, with holes in some of the walls and roofing.
"Mereoleona and Feugoleon Vermilion! You two are in so much trouble!" A woman's voice came from outside of the estate, being the mother of the two. Accompanying her was Acier Silva, who also didn't seem pleased with Mereo this time round.
"Well, it looks like it's time for me to leave. Good luck to you two." Merlin said, releasing the Mana zone he had put up and reverting the damage to the Estate.
Winking towards the two, Merlin disappeared from the Vermilion Estate in a puff of flower petals before their mother and Acier saw him, although the petals in the air were a dead giveaway. The downsides of being a showoff.
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Authors Notes:
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