With Belloc in possession of a firm grip on Mira’s thin leg, Belloc whirled her around above his head before he tossed her into the sky.
The young girl twirled her body into the air and corrected her position so that the soles of her feet were touching the ceiling.
Mira prepared to use her powerful legs as a way to sort of springboard back towards her brother.
However, when she attempted to make the jumping motion, she realized that she was being held firmly in place once again.
“Uwah?!”
Looking at her legs, she found hands made from tendrils of dark shadow that were holding her in place firmly.
It was only at this moment that she remembered exactly who her brother’s birth mother was, and she silently cursed her shortsightedness.
The shadows were steadily pulling her deeper and deeper into a dark oblivion, and it seemed like she was going to be swallowed up at any moment.
“Sister should give up now.” Belloc said as he slipped his hands back into his pockets.
“Never!” Mira declared stubbornly.
The young ice dragon touched the ceiling with her hand and tried to use a bit of her destruction magic on the shadows, but they only grabbed her by her wrist and proceeded to pull her deeper.
“Give up now?”
“No!”
Going back to ice magic, Mira tried her best to freeze the dark magic in the hopes of creating an escape.
However, this too proved to be a vain attempt as she realized that every action she performed was only swallowed up by the darkness.
“Will you give-”
“No!”
Belloc pouted a bit as he thought of ways to force his stubborn sibling to concede.
He was trying to end this without actually hurting her, but Mira damn sure wasn’t making that such an easy task.
‘Brother? Can you hear me?’
Belloc’s eyes drifted over to Gabbrielle on the sidelines and he found her staring at him with a serious look.
‘If you want to make our sister give up without hurting her, you have to say exactly what I tell you to, alright?’
‘…Okay?’
Belloc listened carefully to his older sister’s advice and he felt like he was developing a migraine as a result.
“Ummm… Sister, if you concede to me then I will let you teach me to skin animals.”
Almost immediately, Mira felt her eyebrows twitch as she stared at her brother with sparkles in her eyes. “And people???”
“…Yes.”
“You don’t sound genuine! You have to mean it!”
“I do.”
“Promise!?”
“You have my word.”
“Hell yea!”
Taking that as a sign of concession, Belloc released his sister from the ceiling and let her fall through the air.
Performing a somersault in the air, Mira landed delicately atop her brother’s shoulders and? ruffled his hair playfully.
“You can’t go back on your word now! Like our mommy always says; men who break their vows are spineless limp dicked losers!”
“You know, I don’t believe it is a very difficult mystery to discover which of our mothers you spend the most time with.”
“Hm? How can you tell?”
The genuine confusion in Mira’s voice made Belloc decide not to make further comments on this particular subject.
“Great! You’re done!”
Impatient, Apophis had already started to come out of his robe and walked towards his younger siblings with a proud smile.
He easily lifted Mira off their brother’s shoulders and gave her a warm hug.
“My sister has improved so much in her technique.”
Though she liked praise and affection, Mira didn’t seem happy to receive it this time and puffed her cheeks out cutely.
“That’s not true… I’m still not good at concealment so our brother found me easily… I couldn’t cut him either.”
‘You actually wanted to hurt me?’ Belloc cried internally.
Apophis patted Mira on her head lovingly. “Don’t worry, he’s just a monster. None of us on the sidelines were able to feel you.”
‘Am I really a monster..?’ By now, Belloc was taking critical damage whenever his siblings said something.
On the other hand, Mira was showing signs of feeling just a tiny bit better.
“Really…? Do you think it’s okay to show father now?”
“Of course. We’ll show him together whenever he and mothers come out of their room.”
“How long do you think it’ll take this time?”
“Well since we have things coming up, then it shouldn’t be anymore than 2-3 days.”
“Why do our parents stay in their bedroom for so long?”
“I-I umm…”
“You know, you and Thea are starting to do that too. Are you all sleepy?”
“S-Something like tha-”
“Or are you having sex?”
“THEA!! Back up! I need back up!”
Thea appeared directly by Apophis’ side in a gust of wind and she lifted Mira up like she was a baby.
“Come on, sister. Let’s see if Nita or Rita have any treats for you.”
“Cookies!!”
“Yes, yes.”
As they walked away, Apophis let out a exhaustive sigh from the second disaster he’d avoided for the day.
“Alright then…” running his hands through his violet hair, he turned back towards his younger brother. “Should we start? I think I’ll provide you with more of a challenge than Mira at least.”
Belloc tilted his head to the side. “Didn’t you just say that I am a monster?”
“I did indeed. But that’s the thing about being born to our father, Belloc…”
Apophis’ body started to grow various dark purple scales along his face and torso.
He flexed his long claws and a golden sword with a wicked curved edge appeared in his grasp.
“We are all monsters.”
WHOOSH!
At a speed Abaddon would have been proud of, Apophis rushed at his brother with his weapon raised overhead.
Belloc readied his tail and kept his hands stashed firmly in his pockets, much to his brother’s chagrin.
“I’m not like Mira! If you worry about hurting me then you’re only going to embarrass me! I have wives to look good for you know!”
On the sidelines, Claire, Rita, and Tiamat blushed silently.
Claire: “We have such a cute husband.”
Rita: “He’s always thinking of us.”
Tiamat: “I’m going to fuck him after this.”
To show that he was serious, Apophis easily knocked his brother’s bladed tail aside with his weapon, and slashed him cleanly across the chest.
Belloc only had a moment to be surprised before his older brother swept his legs from underneath him with his own tail, and kicked him hard in the midsection while he was still airborne.
Belloc was sent flying, and he hit the nearest wall back first with a dramatic thud.
‘Oh… fast.’
As apathetic as ever, Belloc looked down at his chest and watched his bleeding wound heal at a speed that would have made Abaddon and Audrina proud.
Since he knew that he didn’t need to worry about hurting his brother now, he picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off.
Very briefly, Apophis felt a very small sense of danger and he wondered if maybe he was mistaken.
A single blink was all the time it took for Belloc to close the distance between himself and his brother.
Apophis only had a moment to block the flying knee that was aimed at his temple.
Using the flat side of his weapon, he opted to halt his brother’s movement by using it’s incredible durability that was one of a kind.
However, he never expected for his brother who was only a few hours old to snap his weapon with such dramatic ease.
With nothing else to impede him, Belloc’s knee sailed directly between Apophis’ eyes and temporarily made all of the lights go out.
When Apophis’ eyes refocused, he realized that he was lying on his back and his brother was standing above him, his hands never leaving his pocket.
“Are we don-”
“Never!”
‘Of course..’
Apophis was back up in an instant and he was clearly having the time of his life.
Abandoning his sword, the first prince engaged his brother in strict hand to hand.
Belloc noticed that his older brother seemed to be having some kind of cathartic experience with their ensuing struggle, although he admittedly did not understand why.
Apophis threw a hard kick at his brother’s side that was easily caught, and Belloc used his free hand to grab him by the neck.
Whirling him around, Belloc slammed his brother onto the ground so hard that he bounced up like a chiseled basketball.
Grabbing Apophis by his hair, Belloc flung him so hard that a cannon sound erupted from the speed and power behind his movements.
While the first prince was still airborne, Belloc opened his mouth wide and released a storm of bright orange flames.
As Apophis watched the devastating attack head towards him, he felt a tired smile spread across his lips.
Somehow, having a younger brother had given him new experiences that he didn’t anticipate.
Like the addition of a threshold that he felt he desperately needed to cross over.
‘We may all be monsters, but those two are head and shoulders above the rest…’
BOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!
When the smoke cleared from the explosion, Apophis was lying crumpled on the floor, covered in dark scorch marks and seemingly unconscious.
Once he saw him, Belloc immediately started to feel more than a bit guilty, and his heart dropped to the bottom of his feet.
“Ah… I..-”
“Don’t worry, he’s fine.” Thea strode up with Mira still in her arms and pointed to their brother’s sleeping body.
Belloc hadn’t seen it at first, but just underneath his brother’s veil of purple hair, there was a small smile of true happiness.
Relieved, Belloc let out a sigh of relief as he placed his hand over his quickly beating heart.
“Well, a deal’s a deal!” Thea said sweetly. “We can still spar for a bit if you aren’t too tired.”
Just as Belloc opened his mouth to respond, the sound of a door opening reached his ears along with a very familiar voice. 𝑂𝒱𝐥xt.𝑐𝓞𝚖
“What are you kids doing down here??”