Marian’s POV

Marian ran towards Kris as if she were running for her life. Her son was a bloodied mess with cuts and bruises around his body. In front of the mansion, two halves of what seemed to be the father Cerberii was sprawled on the ground, its guts littered around it.

“Kris, are you okay?” Behind Kris was Sophie, unconscious but otherwise safe. To fight a Cerberii at such a young age, Marian felt that luck would be at play if they were able to survive, but to defeat it?

“I… I’m fine, mother,” Kris said, before falling to his knees. Marian caught her and supported his weight. “What happened?” she asked, worried.

“Well, as you can see…” Kris said, trailing off before looking towards the Cerberii. Marian swallowed a chunk of air in disbelief and relief, before hugging her son tightly.

“Oww…”

“You idiot… You should’ve just ran,” Marian said, almost crying. She didn’t want to imagine what might’ve happened if Kris and Sophie failed to defeat the Cerberii.

“Mom… it hurts…” She eased up as she hugged, but didn’t try to actually stop hugging him. She felt that she at least deserved this just from the sheer worry Kris put her through.

“It’s okay, right? We defeated it anyway,” Kris said, smiling pensively. His smile have started to be able to soothe her throughout the small time they’ve been together, much like how Claire’s could. She relaxed before she released until she remembered that Kris needed to be treated.

Marian looked behind Kris to see Jack caressing the sleeping Sophie. “Jack, we need to have them both treated,” said Marian.

Jack, now out of his stupor, shook himself awake and shouted.

“Doris, contact a healer, quickly!” Marian knew that Doris was a wind mage who specialized in reconnaissance. They could leave it to her to promptly find a nearby healer.

She turned to address Kris again. “So, how exactly did you defeat it? I mean…” She didn’t look at the remains of the Cerberii, but the scene was deeply imprinted on her mind. It was carnage, to say the least.

It was then that Marian remembered how Kris’ mana felt when they first met. She thought that maybe her son had been undergoing some secret training in his lonesome.

She toyed with the idea of investigating his core for a bit, before shrugging it off and deciding to trust in her son.

“I… might be better at this magic thing than I first thought,” Kris said as he tried to sport another smile.

Kris’ POV

“That guy’s such a bother. He knows he can’t amount to much and he still wanted to participate in the game,” Kris complained as he thought about the loss of his high school basketball team. He was probably putting the blame on someone arbitrarily, knowing that his team didn’t even stand a chance. But he was so into the game that it bothered him.

“You shouldn’t say that, Kris,” Reese scolded.

“But it’s true! I know our team didn’t stand a chance, but to have someone like him drag the team down more shouldn’t have happened in the first place!” Kris argued.

“So if he didn’t take that opportunity, how could he improve in the future?” Reese suddenly asked, which surprised Kris.

“What…” Before Kris could ask a rhetorical question, Reese interjected.

“You shouldn’t judge anyone by what they could do now. Rather, you should judge a person by how willing they can push themselves towards a goal. Really, you’re a musician yourself. Shouldn’t that be a matter of fact?” Reese said dejectedly.

After Kris was treated, both he and Marian quickly made their way home to rest. During their travel home, they told each other of their own circumstances behind the battles earlier.

Marian said that although the beasts were relatively weak compared to her and the General, their sheer numbers gradually tired both of them out and it made the battle quite a struggle. It seemed that after Kris defeated the Cerberii were Marian and the General able to wipe out the cerberites.

Kris on the other hand, told Marian about the story of Sophie battling the head-on before losing mana. Kris then, once again that day, made a bunch of excuses about how he suddenly felt an outburst of power and had a breakthrough about his magic that he used to defeat the Cerberii.

Needless to say, his mother accepted whatever he said, but he knew that his mother felt that he was hiding something. Like they say, mothers know best.

With that out of the way and at the comfort of his own room, he contemplated on that day's events. His mom was one thing, but he hadn’t had a chance to interact with Sophie after the battle, and he knew that she’d tell the General about his unusual mana and magic.

Kris regretted that he’d made so many blunders today, but it’s not as if he was being lousy. With so many thoughts on his mind, it weighed down on him and anyone with such problems would slip up every once in a while. Today just wasn’t his lucky day. The mistakes of Rizale... having to be managed by a 16-year old.

Was he suddenly thinking like a 16-year old? It was a weird feeling. Did the spell affect my psychology? Kris shrugged. Borrowed time was obviously an application of void magic, but this is something that Kris concluded through conjecture. One thing is for sure, he didn't think of himself as Rizale anymore. Whenever he thought about those memories, they seemed like an awful, distant vision as opposed to a memory.

Still, he needed to think about his impending confrontation with both Sophie and her father. He needs to outmaneuver any suspicion that might arise from them, and win them over to his side. He felt that he was playing it too safe, but with so many unknowns...

His parents were one thing, but he honestly found it a hassle to have to act like a kid in front of everyone. It might even create complications similar to this in the future. He wanted to ease his parents in, but for his future interactions with anyone outside of the family, he wanted to be as he really was.

I should just be myself. But that could be harder than trying to act.

He thought about Sophie’s battle with the Cerberii. As her mana suggested, she was indeed powerful and skilled. For one, he hadn’t heard anything similar to the first attack that she did, so he thought that it might be her family’s exclusive.

What most intrigued him was she was actually trying to kill the Cerberii until she lost mana. Sure, she was frightened at first, but she quickly went beyond that and tried her best to win.

She might be inadequate now, but pretty soon she’ll be able to stand up to most beasts. That depended, however, on how she takes today’s battle and how she uses it. If she uses it to cower away in fear of the beasts’ power, then she’d have no progress.

Still, I think that she’d be able to put it to good use.

Kris internally nodded before he thought back on when they first met. Sophie was indeed pretty, and that was the reason why Kris found himself asking his mom who she was. She reminded him of teen actresses from Earth that had the charm and looks to trance millions of fans.

The most admirable thing about Sophie though was how she battled. The way she sucked up her fears and fought valiantly. Her style was fluid even though she’s an earth attribute mage, and the earth moved almost to her whims.

Even when she was defending for dear life, Kris noticed that when she found that she was at least able to deflect some of the Cerberii’s attack, she faintly smiled. Kris doubted she noticed it, but she’s a person who was strong-willed and had great self-esteem.

As Kris thought about her more, the image of her bowing and introducing herself replayed over and over. Soon, the memory of her stopping him from what she deemed were rash actions, and her decision to confront the beast popped into his mind.

He unconsciously touched where Sophie held his arm, and after a long time of being separated with Reese so abruptly, felt slightly at peace as he fell asleep.