Shinjuku | Subway
The platform beneath Shinjuku trembles as a silver subway train dives into the tunnel. When the rumble barely faded, the rosebud on Mai's ear tips and every trace of Lucil's magic vanished … only for him to appear right next to her.
Mai blinks. "Where did he go? He's taking forever…"
A hand taps her lightly on the shoulder.
"Hey - I'm right here." Lucil's voice slips past her ear.
She flinches. "W-Woa… H-how did you… ?"
Lucil gives a crooked laugh, then turns serious and snaps his fingers. "Magic."
Mai giggles, none of the waiting commuters surrounding them take notice.
"Up for a little detour?" he asks.
"Hmm … why?"
"I want to try out a few new things. And you're the perfect partner."
A spark lights in Mai's eyes. She slides her hand into his, and together they leave the station. The spring air from Shinjuku is thick with neon glare and exhaust gases; streams of people push through the streets. In the middle of muted business suits, Lucil's crimson jacket blazes like a way flare.
Mai eyes the rose vines on his back. "Lucil, why roses of all things?"
"A friend thought they were pretty," he answers simply.
Mai nods thoughtfully.
They turn into a narrow side alley. Between dumpsters and brick walls, lie two rusty crowbars. Lucil picks them up, tosses one to Mai; she snatches the iron bar cleanly out of the air.
"She loved being surrounded by roses," he explains, inspecting the second bar in his hand. "At some point we build magic upon it."
"But… why roses?"
Lucil's smiles vaguely. "Remembering that is hard for me."
Mai laughs brightly - the echo dances across the wet cobblestones, while Shinjuku beats behind them like a pulsing heart.
She nudges her brother with her elbow. "Eighteen and already Alzheimer's...?"
Lucil just smiles, but his gaze shifts, inspecting the narrow alley.
"What do you see here?"
Mai blinks into the shimmering darkness. "An... alley?" The word sounds uncertain, as if she's recalling an answer which she knows, isn't quite right.
Lucil's voice grows quieter. "And what did I teach you?"
Mai nods in understanding, placing a flat hand on her chest. "Focus the mana within the body."
She closes her eyes. Beneath her white dress, a light kindles at her chest; ruby-red threads run through her veins, gradually discolor to sapphire blue and finally pooling in her irises. Her pupils begin to glow, a reflection of Lucil's briefly flared ruby-red eyes.
In Mai's inner gaze, a magic circle takes shape with a stylized rose. A scarlet radiance cuts through the alley's shadows - and when she opens her eyes again, they no longer stand in the back alley, but in an arena made of stone.
Thorny vines rise up the walls, a rushing waterfall pours into a basin, its foam drifting across the ground like fine mist.
"A Domain?", Mai asks.
"Yes", Lucil confirms.
She pouts. "How many of these do you still have in Tokyo?"
"Several."
"Hrr… You're a mystery, Lucil."
He walks to the center of the arena, his rose embroidered cloak drifting behind him. Mai touches her throat and draws out a blue chain. The pendant shows a delicate rose out of lapis-lazuli.
"What are you going to teach me today?"
Lucil smiles gently. "Try to wound me."
Mai backs away. "No - why?"
"You have a pure heart. But if you want to be a mage, you can't hesitate in battle. Showing your feelings are fine, little one, yet while casting only the target matters. Drop the restraint the moment you use magic."
After a moment, Mai squares her shoulders and raises the crowbar. Crimson filaments flowing under her skin, shifting to cobalt blue.
"Rose Petals - Accelerated!", she shouts.
Thousands of blue-shimmering rose petals materialize out of the air, swirling around Mai like a rising storm.
The waterfall pounds like a pulse while Lucil and Mai face each other at the center of the stony arena. Thorn vines twitch on the walls as if they sense every motion.
Lucil grins, draws breaths in … and the air turns blood-red.
"Rose Petals Stringendo."
Hundreds of rose petals rise upward, dancing like sparks in a thermal. Carmine red light rains from every side.
"Rose Accel - Step Five!" Lucil's voice slices through the roar of the fall. His silhouette blurs, as though he dives into the petals himself.
Mai mirrors him immediately: "Rose Accel - Step Five!"
An azure bolt zips through her veins; the crowbar in her grasp glows sapphire colored. Then she kicks off - a streaming blue banner of petals travels behind while she flies to Lucil with superhuman speed.
Lucil doesn't move a millimeter: Only at the final heartbeat, he lifts a bare forearm. Metal meets Metal - KLAANG!
The red and blue petals detonate into a cyclone, as the impact of their collision vibrates the floor. Stone splinters, fine cracks chase across the arena slabs.
Mai grits her teeth. "Argh!"
Lucil's counterattack comes in like a thunderstorm. He draws back - his arm lengthening, gaining weight, as though spreading wings made of sheer force.
Mai whispers a single word. "Rose Switch."
A solitary blue petal flashes - and suddenly she stands at the other end of the arena. The blow slams into the stone, carving a fist's depth crater.
"Wow … insane." Mai sees the debris of a boiler; her heart hammers. "What some kind of power…"
Lucil's gaze stays calm. "I'm holding back. If you want to be taken seriously, give me everything, Mai. Otherwise you're only a disappointment."
She smiles - not in defiance, but with full blaze. "Then let me surprise you."
Mai bows her head, she inhales slowly. The crimson rivers in her veins flare switch to a radiant blue again. From the clavicles downward, thorns spiral to the shoulder blades. Bubs chalices bloom along the thorns,burst open -
-and unfold into two sweeping rose wings of luminous blue leaves. The crowbar in her fists becomes a beam of light, every swing vibrating in the air as if it were slicing fine glas.
Lucil nods in approval. "I never taught you that."
"I tried compressing my mana in one spot - so close combat fighting would matter again." The wings twitching, throwing cobalt blue dusk.
"Just like that." Lucil nods. "Back then, Mages used magic and body one-to-one—until firearms got cheap. Melee spells almost vanished… but not completely. Know why?"
Mai giggles, her wings beat once, lifting her a hand's breadth off the ground. "Because someone was stubborn enough to keep passing it on."
Lucil runs his thumb along the blade of his stare. "Then show me what you've reinvented, little warrior."
Blue and red begin to circle again, like two storms that inevitably screw themselves into one another… and the next collision makes the whole arena tremble.
The thorn walls throb like veins, the waterfall roars, as Mai spreads her wings of blue rose light. Her gaze burns.
"Back then, mages didn't need firearms", she says and thrusts the crowbar forward. "With you at my side, Lucil, I'm stronger than any bullet. Brace yourself - this time I'm hitting for real!"
She inhales the mana like fire air.
"Rose Angel - Final Acceleration!"
A storm of azure petals shoots in a spiral from her wings, driving her forward. The ground beneath her feet cracks as she leaps - a single, thunderbolt arc straight at Lucil.
Lucil closes his eyes, his own mana pulses up. The crowbar in his hand blazes dark red, his iris glowing like burning coals.
"Rose Break -"
Mai slams onto him like a meteorite. Stone slabs cracking, thorn vines rupturing. In seconds, red roses sprout around Lucil - a living shield that absorbs the impact. The impact makes Mai stagger back; for the first time, surprise flickers in her eyes.
Lucil disappears. Only a whisper remains: "Switch."
Suddenly he is behind her, blue rose petals swirling around his feet.
Mai reacts instantly, snapping her fingers. The roses glow threateningly.
"Switch!"
A swap - yet she feels strength draining from her limbs. "Grr … fine-control isn't my strength.", she growls.
A blinding flash of light detonates. A shockwave tears through the arena, thorn walls are cracking into each other, foam from the waterfall sweeps like mist through the air. In the roaring white Mai sees - nothing.
"Lu–Lucil!" Her voice trembles.
Metal presses against her throat: Lucil's crowbar. He stands behind her, unscathed, only dust covering his coat.
"That was quite an explosion," he praises, his tone gentle as steel. "You were ready to kill me. Your brother-heart is proud."
"I… I just wanted to - "
Lucil smiles, wearing a confident expression.
"Good. But there's one lesson you forgot."
Mai squares her shoulders.
"Which one?"
"How long have I been standing here?", he asks, almost rhetorically.
Mai's eyes widen; her breath stops for a moment.
"What? I thought -"
Lucil tilts his head slightly, his hand raised just a fraction, as if holding something invisible.
"You know how to break … this world - my world, sister."
She draws a deep breath. The blue wings crumble into sparks, her eyes sparkle shortly - the illusion melts away. Where the arena was, no destruction of the explosion can be perceived, not a single red rose petal, the rose tendrils and the waterfall were barely touched.
Only the crater from Lucile's attack is deeply visible.
"Incredible…" She rewinds the memory: After Lucil's counter, inside the bang, he did cast Switch and wrapped the world around them into an illusion.
"Good girl", Lucil says.
A sudden smell tickles Mai's nose, and she wrinkles her face. "Now go take a shower already."
Lucil laughs. "You're right."
Mai tosses the crowbar aside and loops her arms around him. In the middle of the ruined rose realm, brother and sister hold each other - a short peace in a war of magic and memories.
Mai jabs Lucil's shoulder with her fist, nose scrunched.
"Stinker…" she pouts. "Were you actually serious just now?"
Lucil brushes dust from his coat. "When I really fight, Mai, I play dirty. I kill. For sparring like this, I hold back. And you were good - very good actually."
"What should I practice next?"
"Mana control and a bit more agility," he explains. "After every Switch you're paralyzed for nearly a minute. Constant teleporting is off the table. Use the jump only when it's absolutely necessary."
Mai taps her chin. "Hmm… But a minute is long."
"With a clean Switch, a few evasive steps, and better mana control, you'll manage."
She sighs. "Last time I tried ranged combat—that was a mistake."
Lucil lifts an eyebrow. "That's exactly your advantage: you're versatile."
Mai thinks for a moment. "Father says a mage should focus on one thing - but you show me everything."
Lucil snaps; the arena dissolves into light, and they stand again in the narrow alley. Together they toss their rusty crowbars into a dumpster.
"What have I taught you?" Lucil asks.
Mai pouts, but recites: "Relevance - focus on the key twenty percent that decides eighty percent of the outcome."
"Exactly. Master everything, combine what truly matters."
Mai thrusts her fist into the air. "That's Rose Magic!"
"Good." Lucil smiles.
Together they stroll through Shinjuku, neon letters mirroring in the puddled asphalt.
Lucil stops in front of a clothing store: In the display window hangs a deep-red jacket adorned with a single blue rose.
"Wait a moment," he says, disappearing inside.
Mai leans against the shop window, eyes drifting to the bright evening sky above the high-rise houses.
"One day I'll be as strong as you, Lucil," she whispers. "I love this world of mages."
A shadow falls over her smile.
"So pointless this war .. Silver is cool, Ruin too. I know you've got a plan, brother. You were always a genius. The magic you show me isn't in any book on earth."
Still, a laugh flits across her lips as neon light dances in her ruby-red eyes.
Mai rests against the shop window, still entranced by the red jacket beyond the glass.
"The Rose Magician…" she breathes, as if searching for a spell inside the word.
In that moment Lucil is beside her again - a jacket in hand. He slips an arm around her shoulders, gently puts over the clothing piece. Deep carmine, a single blue rose over the heart.
"Oh, thank you!" Mai's eyes shine, then flicker sleepily. "Did you buy perfume?"
Lucil whistles innocently, looking pointedly away. "You can lean on me."
"Mhm… dear brother."
The scent - rosy and relaxing - has an effect on the exhausted Mai faster than she can ask. Lucil guides her through Shinjuku's night-time bustle back to the estate. The main entrance stands open; Ryujin is still out. Quietly Lucil slides the panel to Mai's room aside and lays his sister on the bed. Roses everywhere: on curtains, cushions, even the pink bedsheet is woven thoroughly with thorny vines.
"Little one", he whispers and brushes her hair, "this flower has truly captured you."
When her breathing deepens, he leaves the room and slips into the dojo. Tatamis creaking as he settles cross-legged. A single paper lantern pours warm gold across the floor.
He sinks into meditation. Mana pulses; ruby-red veins draw beneath his skin, sliding over neck, shoulders, arms. The irises of his eyes smolder into liquid blood-red.
- And suddenly he is standing on a wind-bent mountain ridge. On his back coils tattooed rose mandala. Beside him stands a woman, every hint of eyes gone; empty hollows, yet a gentle smile.
"Lucil, will you kill them all?" Her voice sounds like cracked bells.
He nods, as though the verdict were already decided. "Silver will kill them otherwise."
"Lucil, please -" The whisper cracks as she presses a hand to her heart. Roses bursting from the stone, winding round her legs.
"I'm sorry, that i can't see you anym -"
Before the word fades, Lucil leans forward and kisses her. Cold lips, the sweet taste of tears.
"I will always love you", he whispers. "That's why I wear the roses - forever."
With a jolt he opens his eyes. Thorn vines sprout from the tatami, blood-red buds cover the walls upwards to the center roof beams.
"Guess I drifted off," he mutters.
Rei stands before him, lantern in hand, her face caught between wonder and quiet fear and stars at the sea of roses his meditation has left behind.
"Wow… you looked so peaceful, my son."
Lucil straightens. "Hey, Mom."
She folds into a cross-legged seat before him, watching the thorns which are already retreating.
"Why won't you accept your clan's lessons?"
Lucil leans back lazily. "My own magic is enough."
"You were just out with the White Dragons' son, right?"
"Yeah." Lucil shrugs.
Rei's smiles faintly. "What if we just ran away … all of us together?"
He looks her over - and notices the blue bruises on her throat. His eyes narrow.
"What did Ryujin do to you?"
Without hesitation he snatches a wooden sword from the rack. Rei tries to follow, but he's already bursting through the sliding door.
In the gravel garden stands Ryujin, gaze fixed on the evening sky.
Lucil's patience snaps."Rose Accel - Blood Break!"
Energy rushes through his veins; he lunges forward.
Ryujin draws a steel fighting staff from his belt and raises a hand. "Lucil, calm yourself."
"What did you do to Mother!"
Lucil's voice shakes with fury.
Rei hurries out, clutching onto the doorframe.
"She refuses to obey," Ryujin says harshly. "The war, Lucil. The White Dragons…"
His voice fractures into something between disappointment and old pain. "The White Dragons have slaughtered our family again and again, desecrated their bodies, forged weapons from their bones. Do you think I'll let that happen once more?"
He spits out the words of a spell: "Tek to ma, se ta vi!"
Red-white smoke gushes from the ground, swallowing the garden, wall, and the sky - a smoldering domain.
Lucil gasps; fractures of raw magic press against his skin like shards of ice. Still he lifts the wooden sword, veins glowing blood-red.
"You're going to kill everyone! You don't see where this ends. No matter how many times it happens - she is our mother."
Rei offers him a desperate smile, one hand over her bruised throat.
The smoke lashes tighter. Lucil closes his eyes briefly then his voice sinks to a whisper:
"Endless Rose – Red World."
Rose vines pierce through gravel and air, enclosing the smoke barrier like living chains.
Deep-red blossoms inhale in the haze as though it were poison - and bloom even darker. The smoking domain groans, loses shape, breaks apart piece by piece while petals rise up in spiral currents.
Ryujin stares into the growing sea of roses and for a moment uncertainty flickers in his dark-blue eyes. Lucil stands unmoved into the heart of the vortex, wooden sword lowered, shoulders square - every muscle ready to pounce, the next word, the next blow.
Ryujin's domain dissolves into smoking tatters, yet he tries one last time: A jolt runs through the air, fractures of broken space-time chase toward Lucil's skin as if to peel his flesh away.
Lucil merely takes a step forward.
"Blood Unleash."
Every rose petal around him detonates at once. The shockwave gathers into a spherical shape, then shots like rolling thunder in a single direction - straight at Ryujin. For the fraction of a heartbeat, the clan chief grasps that any deviation - left, right, up, down - means certain death. The hatred in Lucil's eyes freezes him in place.
Then a massive ruby-red radiance envelops the entire estate. Behind Lucil rises the shimmering silhouette of a dragon woven from rose petals, wings stretched into the night sky, jaws spitting blood-red sparks.
Ryujin gasps. "Th–that can't be real. What are you?"
Lucil's voice is clear iron. "Touch Rei or Mai again, and I'll prepare for you the slowest, most agonizing death this world can bear."
Ryujin stares at the dragon. "You could decide the war by yourself!"
Lucil lifts the plain wooden sword as though it carried divine weight and roars: "Got it?"
The spell shatters. Ryujin snaps awake, sweat on his brow, drops to his knees - not in submission, but because his body refuses the command to flee. Behind his downcast gaze, silent hatred simmers.
Rei hurries over. "Lucil, what… what was that?"
The red veins on Lucil's neck fade. "Ah… sorry, Mom. Hot-blooded, you know. Lost control for a second." He shoots Ryujin a withering glare. "I serve no pitiful weakling."
For a split second Ryujin believes, all is a fever delusion. Lucil turns and disappears among the cherry trees.
Rei kneels beside her husband. "Stop it, Ryujin. Talk to him - without Lucil we lose everything, but our children want to live, not wage war."
Ryujin lifts his head. The garden is silent, as if nothing had happened. No roses, no smoke, no cracks in the stone. No one in the house seems to have noticed something.
He laughs soundlessly, like a man doubting his own sanity.
Only then does Rei grasp it. "Wait… none of this happened."
She runs into the dojo.
There sits Lucil, legs crossed, shoulders relaxed, as though he had never left. A single rose petal hovers above his open palm.
Rei feels goosebumps crawl down her spine while her son quietly lifts his head – and smiles.
Rei wipes a hand across her brow. "That illusion… it felt completely real."
Lucil tilts his head. "How did you notice, Rei?"
"The explosion should have startled the whole clan." Her voice barely rises above a whisper. "But nobody moved. From the start, I saw no one but us."
Lucil laughs softly, a sound like clanged glass. Then he snaps his fingers.
Rose petals flicker through the air, burst like sparks - and the world flips upside down. Sounds slams back: punches on wood, the clang of practice weapons, muffled calls. Ten students of the Red-Dragon Clan drill in the dojo, freeze mid-motion, and stare in confusion at Lucil and Rei.
Ryujin rushes from the main hall, his gaze crossing Lucil's - the tremor in his hands shows the newly awakened hatred. More clan members stream past, casting only fleeting glances at the pair. Rei's smile is razor-thin.
"Illusionist…" she murmurs.
An old man in a scarlet robe steps beside Ryujin. In his eyes burns a draconic magic circle.
"Elder," Ryujin grinds out, "is there an illusion that can overwrite an entire domain?"
The elder stays silent until the stillness burns. "No… at least not anymore." His voice drops. "In forbidden apocrypha are rumors of it - but that would be hocus-pocus. Such magic would tear the world itself apart."
Ryujin scans the garden - untouched, as though nothing has happened and laughs - a soundless half-mad laughing.
Lucil slips down the corridor into Mai's room. She blinks drowsily, hisses, "Stalker!"
Then she focuses her mana; her eyes flare for an instant.
Only after she made sure that no illusion lies between them, she breathes out.
"Good girl", Lucil says.
"Praise me only when I can trick you." She grins.
Lucil chuckles and slides the door shut. He walks the dark hallway back to his bare chamber: one cracked wall, scattered clothes, a futon close to the floor. Lying down, he gazes at the full moon through the hole in the masonry.
A melancholy smile crosses his face. "I like life here…" A quiet sigh. "Please, this time… just let it be."
Outside, the wind rustles through the pines, as though it knows that such wishes are seldom granted in a world of mages.