Base of Operations: Silver Eagles

[Bloodedge]

When the pair of new Magic Knights landed in front of their squad's base, Asher released his hold on the pink-haired witch in his company. Junon's comment about their traveling method for this venture was met by a chuckle. "It's no big deal. I've got good eyes because I've used magic to move around so much," he explained about his ability to perceive his surroundings while moving at such speeds. Such was the same reason he boasted the amount of precision he did when using his offensive magic, but that was an aside.

Before they entered the building, they were met by the Captain herself: Sibylla. Looking at this woman, Asher remembered instantly what his purpose was, causing his gaze upon her to be cast in a more serious light. "Tadaima... Danchou," he said. Asher took several moments thereafter to resolve himself for what he intended to do, but after that time passed, he pulled his grimoire from its pouch at his hip. "Sumimasen. Hikari Mahō: Danzai no Kōken." The spell Asher chose was his usual go-to, so to speak. Its casting created six shards of light in the air behind him, each one crossed over four times by lines. With these in place, he figured the only message he needed to convey to Sibylla could be easily taken - his conviction had brought him to challenge the woman on their very next meeting, which had already come to pass now.

[Apollymi]

"Sou ka, that makes sense I guess..." she said coming to the conclusion that the lad's ability to see was in fact due to trying to see while using this method of movement. Still it was amazing to her and as such she was keen to let her own compliment stand. And what happened next was about the pink haired girl expected as their Captain came to greet them. Junon would also greet her as she was quite happy to be back and on the ground. "Tadaima, Danchou... the Royal Capital was huge, and interesting looking," she said giving pause. She would have gone on to say more but she noticed the actions of Asher and decided that she'd just hold on to it for now. "Sou ka..." she said moving by way of the wind to have a seat in an open nearby tower window.

Meanwhile Sibylla was confronted by a strange sight, as her youngest brother chose to cast magic in an obvious challenge to her and apologized for doing it. For the first time in a rather long time, she managed to look surprised, "Of all possible greetings I expected, a challenge wasn't really on the list..." Sibylla said but after a few seconds her brows lowered but she still couldn't think of any real reason for this to be happening. "Why challenge me?" she asked for clarification, she seemed unworried about the shards of light hovering overhead, but that was about to be expected given what she knew of her own abilities.

[Bloodedge]

Asher's brow became furrowed over time as he looked toward Sibylla. She didn't quite accept his challenge, nor did she outright reject it. The latter wouldn't be given as an option, though. Asher's resolve had become unbreakable over the trip here; he'd either have his answer, or the equation which required answering would no longer exist for him, and he'd live based only on the life he knew. In place of a potential acceptance or rejection of his challenge, Sibylla offered him the question of why. In response, Asher smiled. "I didn't expect this either, but someone told me something earlier..." As he spoke, his smile remained and his eyes closed. The message he'd received was one he took to heart quite easily, and would likely be one he went on to apply in many aspects of his life henceforth... the advice of a friend. "Someone told me that magic becomes you! If you are who you say you are, and I am who you think I am... then there's only one way to find the answer. Here I come!" With that, Asher's eyes opened again with a great burning inferno in the gaze he set upon Sibylla. No longer would the young Magic Knight hesitate; his light shards angled themselves toward Sibylla, and the two farthest out in the lineup shot forward one at a time. The shards' speed remained dwarfed by Asher's movement via magic, but the swift movement was that of light magic nonetheless. Asher's right hand swept forward, then his left, each one willing the movement of a shard toward Sibylla's left thigh, then right upper torso in succession. Performing these assaults by willing the shards with his hands allowed Asher to maximize the speed at which they moved, albeit in exchange for the readability which came from such a projected attack.

[Apollymi]

Junon watched as this battle was about to start, she had no idea what had led the young man to this conclusion, but she was more than a bit shocked to hear the reply his gave to his sister. 'Ano, this isn't exactly what I meant, but... figure it out how you need to~' she thought to herself. She got to watch to see how Sibylla reacted to the lad as he spoke.

The Captain of the Silver Eagles gave great consideration to the lad's words. She supposed him thinking her tale of his life was unbelievable was one thing, but she didn't really know what to think about what the lad would have to say about coming to terms with that information. She felt strangely proud of the lad for finding a way to feel right about the situation and finding a way to resolve his own convictions. She could have had many things to say about this, but the burning desire in the lad's face meant that she couldn't deny him his challenge. "Yare yare, Zinc is going to have a field day with this later..." she mused knowing her other younger brother quite enjoyed people who showed resolve in their actions. Still there was the matter this young man's attack which was now launching with or without the woman's approval, still she didn't seem too worried about it, in fact as the lad aimed several shards of light at her body with speed and precision. Instead of doing anything her body shifted and she lifted the staff she always carried, doing so cast a spell at a distance and left the light shards to plant themselves into the ground where she used to be. Her spell of choice caused a mirror to appear in the distance and allowed the woman to step through it well out of harms way. "Kagami Mahō : Mirāzu Shifuto," she said with an apathetic expression, though her eyes told an entirely different story.

[Bloodedge]

Four of Asher's shards remained at his location as the first two made their trip toward Sibylla. His assault was neither deflected nor evaded, but left to connect with the ground as Sibylla relocated herself to a distant mirror she spawned into existence. Asher's gaze soon found her again. Their eyes met, and Asher's narrowed. What was he seeing here? Even if the Captain's face told no tales, something underneath it was quite powerful. Whatever it was, he had to find its true meaning. The only way he thought to do so was to continue his onslaught, and so he did. Three of his remaining four light shards moved without his hands guiding them. They traveled through the air in unison, but diverged onto paths all their own, in which they encircled Sibylla and spun around her while facing inward. At a moment's notice thereafter, all three would thrust inward with intentions of piercing her midsection, as if meaning to bind and maim, though their continued circling would imply further intentions of bifurcating their victim, if not turning her with them.

[Apollymi]

Surprisingly enough, even after she moved, she was soon making eye contact with her younger brother. Sibylla was aptly impressed by the lad's reaction times but noted that his eyes had narrowed almost in suspicion upon viewing her own. She was of a mind to wonder what the lad was actually looking for in her eyes which made him react in such a way. She knew her elder brother's face always seemed malicious but she was pretty sure her own wasn't the same. Though there was still the matter of the rest of the lad's light swords which traveled towards her simultaneously only to split into random directions. "Ah..." she said as her own eyes shifted only briefly before she moved once again lifting the staff she had in the air overhead. The mirror ball at the tip shining in one brief moment before creating a conglomeration of mirrors around her all connected in a dome like fashion. "Kagami Mahō: Mirror Ball," this spell was completely defensive and so far the woman seemed to do nothing but defend herself from the coming onslaught. But such was her way when it came to her siblings. Doing so would not allow the light of these swords to reach her at all. In fact they'd all be reflected back towards the directions they'd aimed to converge but with much greater power behind them, as if empowered by making contact with the mirrors. Still the look in her eyes remained, warm and silently full of empathy.

[Bloodedge]

One shard remained. The three Asher had most recently sent to attack Sibylla were destined to be deflected by a barrier made of mirrors. During this time, Asher took hold of the final shard in his right hand, wielding it as if it were a sword as he dashed forward. If his precision would not serve him at range, he would make use of it from close quarters. One of the returned shards followed a path toward him as he ran, but with the use of his magic for movement, he was easily able to move around it and remove the remaining time it would have otherwise taken for him to reach Sibylla. He was focused enough to keep his eyes trained on Sibylla where she appeared in the spaces between each mirror. In fact, he never broke eye contact from the moment it was initiated... until the moment in which he would have aimed to manually slip his remaining light shard into one of the gaps to attack. In that very moment, he saw not Sibylla, but was face-to-face with his own reflection in one of the mirrors. He wasn't sure how long this had been the case. Perhaps this began the moment this defense was erected, but it was certainly himself he was seeing... and that visual looked no different than what he'd seen of Sibylla in prior moments. Both Asher and his weapon came to an immediate halt, and his eyes widened to the sight of themselves. 'That's... How long have I been looking at myself?'

[Apollymi]

Sibylla's defense had the desired effect, protecting her from several light shards and having a strange effect on the lad outside of it. She watched intently with those silvery eyes of hers, as her youngest brother seemed to be planning out a full frontal assault instead of his more ranged tactics. Even if she hadn't seen where this was going, it was the most likely of any of his movements to be truly useful against her. Of course, she was also prepared to handle close combat too, she probably wouldn't have been a Magic Knight without that ability but it seemed it wouldn't immediately be necessary. In between the time in which the lad would have attacked and he broke eye contact with her, he seemed to have some sort of revelation coming completely to a halt with his light sword in hand. The white haired woman's face was still passive, but the mirrors were like extensions of herself, so of course, she knew the lad was looking at himself in them. She wondered what it was that gave him that much pause in his attack, and so she questioned it... "Did you find what you were looking for, Asher?"

[Bloodedge]

'Sou ka. It's been there the whole time. But...' Asher thought. It was never the case that he didn't believe Sibylla's story about their relation. All his life, the commoners of Hage Village had looked to him as if he somehow didn't belong, even while accepting him. Perhaps they knew something all along. Either way, the issue he was having with Sibylla's claims was that he never wanted to believe it. With this in mind, his grimoire closed to fully cease his assault on the woman, but there was something unsatisfactory about the entire ordeal. Tightly-clenched fists began to tremble as Asher fought the urge to simply break down after mentally accepting his place as a member of the Silva family. When he spoke, he did so in a way that completed his unfinished thought as well. "It... doesn't make sense. Why? If you're my family... if Dior-senpai is my family... What sort of family would do that? Why wasn't I here!?" he asked as his eyes began to moisten. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. True though Sibylla's tale may have been, Asher couldn't possibly fathom how he ended up in the forsaken region if nothing had actually happened to his immediate family.

[Apollymi]

The boy had found whatever answer he sought and though he'd gone quiet, Sibylla continued to watch him because situations like this seemed to be a bit extreme. Though soon his magic faded and his grimoire closed and as such the mirrors surrounding Sibylla disappeared as well. She felt for this lad, more so than he'd likely realize or rather more than he'd likely accept. She sighed, she talked to her elder brother twice in the last few days and he still didn't clarify why he'd done this, she could only answer the best way she knew how. "I told you yesterday, the previous head of House Silva made that decision without giving anyone a reason. I fought the decision, but I couldn't oppose him while I was still a child myself. He asked me how strong my resolve was to have you back after he took you. It took a while but I fought him, I won, I took over and I looked for you... I never really stopped," she said. She could explain to this lad that finding him was the driving reason behind her becoming a Magic Knight in the first place, but that wasn't really the important bit. "I did this because like you, I didn't think that was what families did. So I swore I wouldn't let us be that kind of family again," Sibylla finished speaking on this fact and her eyes burned with the sisterly resolve that she always had. "I can't change what happened then. I can only offer you your rightful place in what we are now." Sibylla's statement was made with the same conviction that she'd had when she asked the lad to come with her during the Magic Knights Entrance Exam.

[Bloodedge]

Sibylla's tale found Asher's ear once again. This time, it was a little something more than it was in their previous discussion, even though the gist remained the same. His abandonment was the fault of House Silva's previous head, and Sibylla was a mere child at the time. It was understandable that she didn't have the ability to do anything about the situation at the time of it happening, but his emotional state had already driven him to speak. "Sumimasen. I spoke out of turn," he said, lightly mumbling. "You already explained that it wasn't your fault. I can't pretend to suddenly be fine with everything, but I'll give being Asher Silva a shot," he concluded, looking up again with halted trembling, and the return of the fire in his eyes. He couldn't exactly lie; even though he was a little bitter, but deep down, he was also happy to know for certain that he'd never truly been without a real family... and presumably wouldn't be without one henceforth. With his right hand held out, he flashed a grin at the silver-haired woman. "Onegaishimasu... Aneki!"

[Apollymi]

A bit of a chuckle came from Sibylla when the lad mentioned that he'd spoken out of turn. "Iia, I understand..." she said. Though she didn't understand the exact feelings the lad had growing up apart from his siblings, she did know what it was like to feel cross and bitter for things out of ones own control. Beyond this he was content to mention that though he hadn't quite made peace with how his childhood had turned out, he was willing to give being their younger brother a proper try. Sibylla for her part looked stunned, she didn't expect such a revelation. 'Well, I suppose that is all I could ask.' she thought about this bit, she didn't expect to rush him into new feelings of familiarity. But if she didn't think her eyes could get any wider, she was definitely addressed as sister and she couldn't have been more surprised. "A-neki?!" she let the word fall out of her mouth completely and utterly surprised, as she looked at the lad's extended hand. She then extended her own to his, but pulled him in a bit, placing her other hand atop his hand and smiling at him. "You don't have to rush yourself or anything, just be nice to Dio... speaking of where is he? I thought you guys went together?"

[Bloodedge]

His extended hand was taken, but it was accompanied by a pull which resulted in Sibylla placing her otherwise free hand atop his. She claimed he didn't have to rush this whole family thing, but he shook his head in response. "Iie. I'm not rushing or anything. If anything... I think I accepted this yesterday; I just couldn't come to terms with it. She was right, though... Magic becomes you, and seeing yours let me accept this." With that said, Asher somewhat reluctantly released his hold on the woman's hand. Her question about Dior's location reached him then, and frankly, he had no clue where the older male was. Before he could say anything about it though, Dior himself walked toward the group. "Right here, of course. Apparently, deciding to walk here made me show up second and miss something major."

[Apollymi]

"I feel like I might have heard that somewhere before..." Sibylla said, the words the lad spoke of were indeed ones she'd heard as a small child, but they were long since displaced from her normal thoughts. "But if what you saw helped you out at all, then that is fine," she said with a chuckle, noting the lad had let go of her hand somewhat reluctantly. Soon enough there was the matter of her other little brother showing up and answer the question concerning his whereabouts. "Okaerinasai, Dio... and you didn't miss much. Asher came back and challenged me, it helped him settle in a bit," Sibylla explained as if it was the most normal thing int he world. "How as your trip to the Royal Capital?" she asked of this lad, knowing she'd not really received a proper answer from either of the teens. Whatever the case, Sibylla was in an excellent mood surrounding the idea that Asher had referred to her as sister.

[Bloodedge]

Asher shrugged when the woman mentioned hearing those words before. "Junon-chan said her mother used to tell her those words. You said our mother was a witch, right? Maybe they were friends," he said, having only a general idea how this could have worked out in the past. Regardless of how she'd heard the statement, it was a clause which did indeed help Asher.

A brief moment of eye contact and a mutual grinning nod was shared between Asher and Dior before the latter returned his attention to Sibylla. He had heard enough of the final moments between his two present siblings to understand exactly what happened between them, and knew now that he wouldn't have to walk on eggshells in Asher's presence. As for the question regarding his trip to the capital, he lifted his head with satisfaction. "Well, despite hardly being a participant in the clearing of that dungeon, I was rewarded as well. Mahoutei-sama seemed to approve of our sharing of credit, so like the others, I was given a small promotion," he explained.