Lady Aoboshi tapped her desk in boredom. She had wanted to go to the festivities, but found herself inundated with work she didn't even want to do. She sighed, it's not as if anyone else would care if the work was done promptly, but rather she knew that if she so much as stepped outside the palace, she would never hear the end of it from Lord Ishikawa.

"It is not proper for the nobility to be up and about when there is work to be done," she imitated his voice in her head mockingly. In any other occassion, she would just let Yuuichi do this work and have her way, but as luck would have it, he's the one required to go out and party.

She heaved a sigh again, hoping that Yuuichi would at least return home with a bottle of sake for her.

She felt a chill down her spine that snapped her from her reverie. Her heart started beating a million miles an hour as a sinister feeling creeped through her, as if ice was poured down her throat and into her stomach. She shivered as she stood to investigate. She knew that something had happened to the records. But what could that be? She asked herself.

Cautiously stepping into the back room, all seemed to be well in order. Nothing had been moved, not even a single speck of dust was amiss from the last time she went inside. All seemed to be well in order, and she began to entertain the idea that it was just her imagination.

That was, until she laid eyes on the glass case containing copies of oaths the nobilities had sworn. One of them was disintegrating into dust in front of her very eyes.

Horrified, she ran to alert the king.

“You have nothing more to gain. You’ve failed," announced Yuuichi.

His only reply was an angry child charging at him, rocks vibrating as he stomped the earth, and a surprisingly strong fist meeting Yuuichi’s gut, knocking him back a couple feet.

“The Order of Kuusai never relents!” he announced. He slammed his hand into the ground yet another time, this time an earthen hand sprung from the earth beneath the Thaumaturgist, grabbing his torso and hoisting him up in the air.

“I’m afraid my brother is right, your Lordship," The other boy said, joining his sibling. His last two words laced with sarcasm. “Should we have failed; we were tasked in killing you instead," He levitated a knife right to Yuuichi’s neck.

“Of course," Yuuichi relented. “Tell me… to whom do I owe the honor of my death?”

The elder brother replied. “The brothers Usui. Satoshi and Masaki. Of the Order of Kuusai.”

Yuuichi regarded them. He pursed his lips, assessing how old the two were. There were no older than twelve, thirteen maybe?

“Don’t look down on us!” said Masaki, the younger brother, as if sensing the trepidation on Yuuichi’s part. He Increased the grip on his captive.

Yuuichi winced, the pressure almost crushing his ribs. His breathing was shallow, trying to conserve his breath as his left hand tried to desperately grab onto something attached to it.

“No use trying to save yourself. You deserve to die," said Satoshi, sending another knife short of killing Yuuichi. “People like you… You live in your high towers with servants and people to lord over… You people are the worst.”

He ran a knife across Yuuichi’s cheek, blood trickled down the captive’s face.

“Is that why you joined the Order of Kuusai?” Yuuichi gasped, his fingers finally managing to grab at a piece of string attached to his wrist. “To get back at the nobility?”

“What’s it to you?” Masaki tightened his grip on Yuuichi.

“The Order is our home," Satoshi said, his blade finally poising itself upon his victim’s neck. “the Order gave us something to live for. Freedom. Fairness. A chance to be part of something. What has this kingdom given its people?”

In one last push of willpower, Yuuichi poured his qi onto the object he was holding in his left hand: his Thaumaturgical center – what looked like a glass cylinder strung around his wrist. His form shimmered, and the rock holding him shattered into dust.

The Usui brothers backed away. From the dust and rubble emerged Lord Morimoto. His torn, white coat was replaced by a pristine black one. The elder Usui gasped; this was what they were told to watch out for, when a Thaumaturgist like him unleashes their full power. He need no longer chant incantations and wait to unleash magic. Morningstar called it The Thaumaturgist’s “sageform”.

Yuuichi spoke, “If you had been serious in killing us, then you could have done so for quite a while now. There is still hesitation on your heart. You’ve taken too long to finish us, even if we’ve given you many chances. So it’s still not too late for you. Surrender, and I shall see to it that the nobility can make things right with you."

“SHUT UP!” Satoshi yelled, unleashing the full arsenal of cables, chains and blades he had wrapped around his body. He ordered them all to dash toward Yuuichi at high speed. Yuuichi deflected them all with a simple thought, a barrier erecting between him and the rain of steel. With a flick of Yuuichi’s hand, lightning danced from his fingertips, taking the form miniature sparking birds that he sent coursing through the metal and straight at the elder Usui.

Masaki had buried himself fully underground in the meantime, emerging as a rock-covered golem that swatted the metal and Yuuichi’s lightning-birds away from their intended target. He moved to strike Yuuichi with a giant stone fist. Three times he punched, but the sage was able to dodge each time. However, Yuuichi had been backed into the water’s edge, and couldn’t dodge without falling into the river. The golem’s fist made impact, but what it hit simply dissolved into a flurry of crow’s feathers, Yuuichi emerged, standing atop the rock golem, wielding a sword with an invisible blade.

Satoshi sent another stream of blades in his direction, which Yuuichi parried with his own sword. However, it proved to be merely a distraction, as Satoshi managed to chain Yuuichi to the rocks of the golem. With the excitement of the prospect of victory, Masaki moved to crush Yuuichi with both his stone arms. Yuuichi slammed his sword unto the oncoming stone, willing the rocks to come undone. In a flash of light, the entire golem, with the sage on top of it crumbled. Masaki yelled in pain as Yuuichi, along with a ton of rock and chains fell down unto him.

Seeing his opportunity to take the younger Usui off the fight, Yuuichi shoved Masaki into the water, and with a flourish of his hands froze the water around Masaki’s arms and legs.

“DON’T TOUCH MY BROTHER!” yelled Satoshi, charging with an giant blade made of dozens of other smaller blades held together with affinity. There was murder in his eyes, and he slashed wildly, leaving Yuuichi to dodge, realizing he had dropped his own sword. Yuuichi once again tried to get the lightning spell going, but he had no time to concentrate as he was dodging not only the sword, but the other blades that had started to orbit around the combatants. Satoshi thrust forward, forcing the Thaumaturgist to dodge at an awkward angle, caught between his attacker’s sword and the cloud of steel around him. Satoshi took this opportunity to disorient Yuuichi further, closing in on him and throwing a chain at his direction. Yuuichi couldn’t dodge something coming at him from this close, and the chain wrapped around his neck and shoulders.

“Not so hot without your fancy spells now, huh?” Satoshi remarked, his voice now gravelly and raw, rage evident in his eyes.

Yuuichi was clawing at the chain on his neck, panic setting in combined with the lack of air causing him to think erratically. Even more chains bound his hands, making them useless.

“You’ll end here, you bloated piece of scum," The chains fastened tighter and tighter around Yuuichi, squeezing at him, choking him. “You’re just like all the other rich people in this scummy kingdom. Looking down on us with their phony sympathy, all the while watching us die.

“I won’t even give you the benefit of any last words… Not after what you and your kind have done to us.”

“Well, you better choke him harder because I’m about to do horrible things to you," Said a voice from behind him. Satoshi wheeled, slacking the chains around his captive slightly enough for Yuuichi to breathe, and found two angry-looking women. There was that fire Affinate lady with the huge flaming bird, accompanied by the one who spoke. She was holding a knife attached to a long piece of cloth. He tried to knock away the knife with his power, to no avail.

The woman simply smiled. “You have lots to learn, kid, like how the personal sorcerous instrument of an adept sorcerer responds to no one but its wielder," She threw the knife, it arced around Satoshi, wrapping the cloth around him, in a similar way his chains wrapped around Morimoto.

He struggled against the silken prison, willing his blades to cut, but he found himself getting drowsier and drowsier by the second.

“Sleep," Miri pulled on the knife, jerking the cloth tighter around the boy. Satoshi’s eyes went blank, and he lost consciousness. The chains holding Yuuichi slacked completely.

Yuuichi gasped for air, falling to his knees. The blackness of his coat leaving him like crow feathers being shed. Miri ran to his side, asking if he was alright.

Yuuichi eyed Miri, all he could do was nod and throw his arms around her, as if confirming if he was indeed alive by the warmth of another person.

When his heartbeat had come back down to normal, he turned towards Lady Hibana. “You came back.”

“You saved my life. I have to save yours. I don’t want to be indebted to the likes of you.”

“Thank you," Yuuichi sighed, before passing out in exhaustion.