Kiro crossed the clearing in the blink of an eye, holding his blade to their mother’s throat. His legs ached as he did so, but rage made that easy to ignore.

“How did you get here?” he seethed.

“Oh please,” she harrumphed, “take that thing away from my throat before you hurt yourself, boy.”

Seira took a step back, her hands trembling. “How are you even standing on this world? Mother, did the matriarch send you? She — she’s been lying to us for our entire lives! She wants to kill me!”

“My precious flower, the matriarch doesn’t want to kill you. She’s just concerned that you left! Now come, let’s go home. We can even bring your brother if you’re really so concerned for him.”

He gritted his teeth, pressing Rain against her neck. “You haven’t answered her question, woman.”

Their mother sneered. “Why, stupid boy, isn’t it obvious? The evidence is all around you.”

He turned on his heel, blade held out, but no opponents greeted him. Or rather, no new opponents. Transparent beings swirled around him, their features just distinguished enough for him to recognize them as other members of the Hong clan.

"The matriarch has been generous to us since you have left, Seira. For our search for you, she has elevated her favored to the Great Circle of Soul Nascence. Even though you may be very powerful, I know you have not attained that stage of cultivation yet. And, though you left, sweet flower, the matriarch is willing to forgive you. Just come back home with me, and you too could hold this power in your hands. The power to defy death."

***

Leila reached for her daughter's cheek, brushing away a stray strand of hair. "Well, sweet flower? Remember, no matter what, I love you."

Tears gathered around Seira's eyes, and she stepped forwards. What was she thinking, going with Aer and Kiro to this strange world? She could go back to the Hong clan, where everyone loved her. Where her mother loved her.

Kiro cleared his throat, once more pressing his blade to Leila's throat. "Ah, so you love your children, do you?"

Like a hammer to a fragile vase, his words shattered the illusion made from their mother's honeyed words. She had seen what Hong Ma planned to do to her — how had she been about to go back with her? And even if she discounted the slow, painful death in store for her at the hands of the matriarch, how could she forgive the treatment of her brother? When his own mother didn't care for him, who could?

She stepped away in disgust, memories flooding back. Memories of never being good enough, of the overwhelming fear that gripped her before each test, of the countless nights crying herself to sleep because of the love she had never received.

"No. You don't love me. You love my status, my reputation, and my potential to gain you face. You love the Brave born of you, and the Seventh Level mystic serving you. But Seira, the seventeen year old girl that just wanted your affection? You have no love for her. And don't even get me started on Kiro's —"

"Ah! I haven't wished you a happy birthday yet!"

"Oh, let me guess. Hong Ma told you that they celebrate the day that you were born outside of Paradise, and now you're trying to use that to endear yourself to me? When was the last time you took me to a harvest festival? When was the last time you even went to Kiro's house?"

"Ah. I see that Saint has completely taken you over," their mother said with disdain. "Huang Ke, you may come out now. Your technique has not worked."

***

A man in white and purple robes stepped out of the shadows, chuckling. "It is as you say, Leila."

Kiro squinted at him, frowning. There was no way he could have hidden there in plain noon. There had to be something else going on...

One of the most prominent marks of a mind aspected mystic is their uniquely colored attire. The white represents the conscious mind, while the violet represents the subconscious. You will often see the violet going on top of the white, representing how the subconscious, the mind mystic's main target of attack, controls the conscious.

Well, that was one tradition that had lasted. He purposefully rotated his blade, letting the sunlight glint off of it in the newcomer's direction.

"Mess with my sister's head again, and her head goes off."

The man smirked, strutting over to them. "Oh please! She's your own mother. You wouldn't dare."

Kiro glared at him, conjuring flame. "Then why don't you read my mind? See if I'm bluffing."

The man laughed, but a moment later his eyes went wide. He slowly put his hands up, taking a step back. "Fang, could you call the rest of the fighters?"

The air behind him rippled, and suddenly they were once again surrounded by enemies. And this time, it wasn't just Warriors. Elders stepped out of the void, their auras dwarfing those of the newly-ascended mystics.

"Step away from your poor mother, Sun."

He could recognize that grating screech anywhere. It was the voice that had tormented him him for nearly a decade, the source of more than half of his worries as a Sun. He turned to the source of the voice, flaring his aura. The last time they had met, he had almost been stabbed by that conjured spear that she now held.

"Hong Ba Shou. Do you feel special, standing amongst the Elders? A Torch so incompetent she couldn't even extort the spirit stones out of a mana-less Sun? Why don't we continue where we left off? We still have a score to settle."

He let sparks flash from his palm, a predatory grin spreading on his face. Last time, all he had been able to do was manifest his killing intent and pray. Now, he was an Infusion stage mystic apprenticed to a Saint. In their current states, he and Seira wouldn't be able to take the rest of the Elders, even if they somehow managed to read the flow of battle a second time. If they went at him one at a time, well… that at least left him with better chances than before.

"No, I am perfectly fine, Torch. I don't need a Supervisor coming to my aid."

Their mother took advantage of Kiro's distraction, stepping away but not retreating into the circle of Elders. "I will fight you two myself."

Her aura flared, and Kiro was suddenly reminded of his near-empty core. He downed another elixir, preparing to channel mana into the Right Blade of Tempest.

Seira stepped in front of him, putting a shaky hand behind her. "Kiro, I'll fight her by myself. I… I need to do this."

He opened his mouth, but stopped himself. If he could get a signal out to Rynn during the fight, that could drastically increase their chances. With a nod, he stepped back, tightly gripping his blade.

Seira dashed forwards, launching a barrage of needle-thin shot of flame. Leila easily blocked, conjuring a flame serpent the size of her arm.

"I won't be put down like those trifling Warriors you faced, daughter. The matriarch has personally trained me in her techniques."

As if to demonstrate her point, she shot a gout of flame from her legs, propelling her up and above Seira. His sister dodged the incoming strikes, but he could tell the fatigue was starting to get to her. He carefully slipped a bottle of air mana out of his bag of holding, letting it crash onto the ground with a clink. Damn! It didn't break.

He carefully stepped onto it, channeling the slightest amount of mana into his leg to crack the glass. A pressure separate from the Elders' auras surrounded him, and he prayed to the heavens that that was enough.

Their mother conjured a man-sized serpent of blue fire, which Seira barely deflected with Storm. "Useless daughter! I haven't even used a fourth of my core, and you're already wilting. Nine years working with the finest tutors of the clan, and this is how much good it has done you?"

She threw a trio of fireballs, slowly advancing upon her daughter with a look of disappointment etched on her face. Seira dodged the first two, but the third hit her directly in the chest. She flew back, coughing and wincing as she touched her scorched skin.

"Even with the training of a Sant, it looks as if you're nothing but a failure! I gave you every opportunity to be successful, and yet you stubbornly refuse my one request! The matriarch wants you to live a happy life, and you spit at her! Do you know how much face I have lost at your expense?"

Hong Tang Leila threw her hands out, releasing a steady stream of blazing force. Seira placed her sword in front of her, but the edges of the cut stream burned at her arms. Storm was not a blade meant for defense.

She cried out in pain, but her mother didn't stop. Hong Tang Leila slowly advanced, outputting more and more fire as she got closer and closer to her vulnerable daughter.

"I thought that you would grow up to be the star of the clan, a prodigy not seen in generations! Instead, it looks as if you're nothing but an incompetent leech, just like your brother."

Seira blinked the tears from her eyes, ignoring her blistered arms to glare at their mother. "I have no problems with being compared to my brother."

The stream of flame stopped, and Leila held up a hand. "Bow down."

Seira's eyes went wide, and her hands shook. This wasn't a combat technique, as all the others had been. This was something that they had faced all their childhood, a technique whose sole purpose was to cause the victim as much pain as possible.

Seira slowly kneeled, her lips quivering. Their mother's hand glowed bright red, and Kiro watched in slow motion as it descended towards his sister's cheek. He shouted, panic flooding his mind. Nine years ago, the same thing had happened, after Seira had demanded to know why he was leaving the household. Back then, he had been powerless to stop it.

The lightning step flashed through his leg, and he blocked the incoming strike with Rain. The pearl-white blade cut into his mother's palm, and he immediately retaliated with a barrage of fire.

"You will no longer talk to my sister like that. You will no longer strike her with that technique, as if she were a prisoner of war. Do you know how long it took for her to recover from that blow?"

Killing intent flowed from him in heavy waves, causing the very air around him to distort. His flames responded to the murderous energy, glowing white-hot as they ripped through the air towards his mother.

"For a month, she could barely turn her head without being in excruciating pain. Every night, I had to concoct her sedatives just so she could sleep."

With every gritted word, he launched another strike, gradually burning Hong Tang Leila with blistering fire.

"I was lucky to be free from you at age eight. At least I only had to endure half of my days in abuse. With you, there was no respite."

Their mother snorted, deflecting his techniques with a shield of blue flames. "Oh please! We are family! It was my duty as her mother to discipline her! I simply regret that I hadn't done it more, to rid her of your influence!"

A flame serpent the size of a building roared to life in front of her, and she gave a victorious smirk.

"No."

Seira stood, her blackened arms trembling.

"I only have one living relative, and he's currently protecting me from you."

Their mother's face contorted in fury. "Why, you entitled, arrogant, ungrateful little bitch!"

The serpent descended, and Kiro desperately brought up his sword. All around them, the Elders prepared their mana, ready to fry them in a conflagration of techniques.

He closed his eyes, praying to the heavens. There was no way to win this with the arsenal he currently had. No concoctions would be able to stave off that many attacks, and he and Seira were both low on mana. He only had a tenth of his core regenerated — not nearly enough to dodge all of the techniques flying towards them. And fire's defensive capabilities were even less efficient than its movement techniques. So, instead of wasting his mana in a futile attempt at evasion, he poured it all into his blade's runes.

Rain was supposed to be the defense-oriented Blade of Tempest, after all. His core drained into the runes and…

Nothing happened. He opened his eyes, panicked energy flowing through his veins. The serpent opened its mouth, ready to devour them whole even as a shower of other techniques sped towards them from all directions. He hopelessly gripped his blade, closing his eyes once more in acceptance of their fate. At least he had gone down standing up to his mother...

Suddenly, a green force flashed in his core. The foreign substance burned at his channels, but Rain quickly sucked it all from his system, using it to provide the last drop of mana needed to activate its second rune.

Just as he started to feel the heat emanating from the serpent, a shield of wind erupted into existence around them, dissolving the incoming attacks like sugar in hot tea.

Their mother took a step back, dumbfounded, and Kiro didn't miss a beat. His leg burned with the strain of using a foreign aspect, and he slashed her clean across the neck. Hong Tang Leila's body collapsed in an unceremonious heap, and he watched as her soul slowly peeled itself from it.