Lina admired her brother.

Her kind and gentle brother who always spoiled her and liked to tease her was the most dazzling person she knew.

Certainly, her father and mother were incredibly strong, and her big sister was amazing too, but compared to them, her brother was the most special.

She never heard her brother complain despite suffering from constant illnesses since he was a child. He never got angry even when his body was in so much pain, and he always protected her despite being him who should be protected.

Lina had been praised many times because of her talent and how hard she worked, and the guardians in the family boasted about how she never complained despite the harsh training.

But in truth, she hated training.

She liked to stay in bed until late, she preferred to eat delicious snacks instead of the healthy but tasteless food on her diet, and she found tea parties more enjoyable than training.

But the reason why she never slacked during training was that her brother neither did.

He forced himself to train always he could, even when his body was in pain due to his illnesses, and he worked extremely hard despite his ‘lack’ of talent.

Lina could not allow herself to slack off when her brother worked so hard.

She wanted to be strong. Strong enough to protect him, strong enough to help him if he ever needed her help.

For that, she trained hard with the guardians, honing her abilities day after day while watching him train.

Fortunately, she was talented, and her hard work showed results.

She quickly gained the title of genius, and many praised her unrivaled mastery over mana at her age, calling her the greatest genius ever born in the Steerl Family.

She scoffed when she heard their praises.

Greatest genius? Her big sister was so talented that anyone would feel inferior before her.

Unrivaled mastery over mana? Her brother's mastery over mana was so fine and precise that it made her gasp in admiration.

But she did not feel inferior. Instead, that sparked up her competitiveness.

She wanted to surpass her siblings, become stronger, and protect them.

It was not easy, though.

She still needed a lot to catch up to her sister.

As for her brother, defeating him was hard.

She had sparred hundreds of times against him, but she could only win once every three battles.

And all her victories were close ones.

She knew that she needed to give her all if she wanted to have a chance to defeat her brother. Thus, since the moment the battle started, Lina gave her all.

She cast spell after spell, closing the distance between Linsley and her while attacking incessantly.

Body Strengthening, Barrier, Impact, Wind Blow.

Her spellcasting was almost perfect, and her attacks were flawless. Any other candidate to professional would have been defeated already.

But her brother defended himself from every attack perfectly.

Although he should be slower than her and his amount of mana should be inferior, his amazing combat sense and ingenious use of direct interference made up for it.

Moreover, Lina knew that his brother was holding back.

He never used the most dangerous types of direct interference against her, only the harmless ones.

That made her feel incensed.

‘I will defeat him. At the very least, I’ll force him to go all out.’

She kicked the ground, accelerating her body as she threw an attack with her right fist.

But her brother used the flat side of his sword to parry her attack, defusing it.

At the same time, he altered the effects of Confusion slightly, making the sense of direction she had just adjusted to become useless again.

Lina kept her calm, adjusting her senses in a tenth of a second while at the same time evading the sword strike coming toward her.

She tried to counterattack, but her sense of direction was messed up once more, forcing her to halt her attack to readjust.

But her brother pressed on, delivering strike after strike while messing up her senses repeatedly.

Lina barely managed to avoid and block every attack, but she was forced back step by step.

Furthermore, the repeated changes in her senses were making her dizzy, and her head was starting to ache.

‘How can brother endure this so easily?’ She thought to herself while clenching her teeth.

‘No, at this rate, I’m going to lose.’

Her brother was slowly cornering her, like a game of chess where he ate her pieces one after another until leaving her king unprotected.

But she was not planning to lose.

She wanted to win.

‘I'll have to use it!’

With a firm expression, she manipulated her mana while her mind calculated the magic formula.

Her headache intensified, and for an instant, it seemed like the formula was not going to form, but she held on.

At the same time, she continued avoiding her brother’s attacks while waiting for the perfect opportunity to counterattack.

And finally, it appeared.

Linsley swung his sword downward aiming to deliver the last blow.

She leaned aside, barely avoiding the attack.

Her sense of direction was messed up again, but it was alright, she was prepared for it.

Taking a deep breath, she clenched her fist and input the magic formula she had readied. Then, she swung her fist.

Her brother identified the spell as [Impact] and responded appropriately, widening the distance between them.

But when the fist was about to hit, the magic formula in it expanded, becoming twice as complex.

A spell that someone at her level should not be able to use.

Second circle magic, [Shockwave]!

Linsley’s face showed surprise for the first time.

He tried to retreat, but it was too late.

Bang!

The spell was activated.

And the battle came to an end.