At the moment she was watching her big brother on the screen, some people knocked on the door. When one of the guards opened it, all five kings of the five territories were revealed, wanting to speak with her parents about her big brother.
'What do they want to talk about regarding big brother?'
Taíra looked distrustfully at the five kings, because it was very suspicious for all five to gather in one place to see a family that still hadn't reached the top — at most two steps below them — and with her brother not yet having reached his peak.
'Our family has gained a lot of power lately, but even so, our family hasn't reached a level sufficient for them—'
"Hello Titanza, how are you? I heard your son is doing quite well."
"It's a pleasure to see you again, my King. It's been five years since we last met."
"Ha, yes, it's been a while, but you know your son—"
"As always, you arrive already revealing what you want. I still find it incredible that you became a king."
"How cruel."
It seemed that her mother and the king of Floravita knew each other before, and her father also knew the queen of Vesparello, since they were having a very respectful conversation even from the kings' side.
"From what it seems, you came to talk about Enrico, so sit down. I'll serve all of you a cup of tea."
Renzou was the first to sit, looking at each member of the family as if analyzing them. Taíra narrowed her eyes at that, because that king was the one who had been saying lately that her brother was his son-in-law.
'I don't like this king. Why does he have to make my big brother marry his daughter? My big brother only needs me, since I help him train.'
Ever since she had been with Enrico months ago, she increasingly wanted to see him again, to show that she had learned the magic they studied together. And with each moment apart, she wanted to see him even more, eager to talk and play with him, missing their conversations dearly.
While she observed them, it seemed that the five kings wanted to pull the Solcren Ferreira family to their side with certain disguised words, which was something her father had taught her to notice.
'Tsk, it looks like they want to use my big brother.'
The worst part was that her parents were enjoying it quite a lot, already thinking about doing business with them. This continued for a while as they watched Enrico's team fight.
"Oh, big brother in a female form looks really pretty."
"Of course she does, little sister. All the girls in the family are beautiful."
"You're right, big sister."
Managing to ignore the adults' conversations, she simply wanted to pay attention to what her brother was doing, getting excited every time he showed great fighting skill.
"What is that?"
"Did you feel it too, Hao? Let's go outside."
When her brother was about to fight a boy who seemed quite strong, everything was interrupted when the kings sensed something. Upon going outside, she saw a huge portal in the sky, which ended the competition, and the broadcast of the fight was cut off.
"Little sister, come with me. I'll take you to a safe place."
Being carried by Platina, she saw her parents and older brother going to fight the Nartheis that began appearing in the streets of Vesparello, along with other guards and knights.
'I hope big brother stays safe.'
She managed to remain safe inside the underground of Vesparello, where a hidden safe zone for civilians was located. Her sister was with her the whole time, so everything was safe, and the only thing she could do to try to know what was happening above was listen to the sounds of battle. Temporarily, Platina became one of the guards who would protect the civilians of Vesparello or from other territories who came personally to watch the competition.
"Good thing the world protects itself, or everything would be destroyed."
Sitting on her sister's lap, her hair being caressed, both were worried about where Enrico was, since he was only third circle — of course, a very strong third circle, but the level above ground was far too high.
"Big sister, will brother be okay?"
"But of course he will. I'm certain our parents and brother Valério will save him if they see him in danger."
"You're right, they're very strong, so saving him will be easy."
Each destruction above made a loud noise, until finally all noise stopped, giving way to silence after a huge explosion that cracked the ground even with the world protecting itself.
Platina took her outside just in time to see her brother being placed on a floating white bed by a girl. Nearby was a large carriage that would take all the severely injured from Sanos — especially Astrong's students — to be healed immediately.
"Brother—"
Before she could run to him, the carriage left with the injured quickly. The girl boarded another carriage with the less injured students, but who had fought. She wanted to stay at her brother's side, but it seemed it would take a while. Platina, noticing this, turned to her and placed a hand on her head.
"Worried about your little brother? Don't worry, I'll take you to visit him after speaking with our parents."
"Big sister is the best."
That day she hugged her sister happily, though for some reason she had a feeling she needed to talk to Enrico as soon as possible, but she trusted it would be soon.
"I never thought it would take two days with my sister talking to our parents and brother."
She was finally going to visit her brother in the Solcren family's personal carriage, alongside Platina and Valério. And the best part was that, while they were on their way, they received the news that her brother had woken up. Her two siblings seemed quite satisfied, because apparently the healing mages said he should have woken up a week later due to the amount of injuries he had received, but it only took two days to recover — meaning he was harder to bring down than anyone else.
"That must have been because of my training."
"Please, brother, you only taught him magic. The one who trained him to take hits was me."
'I helped big brother too.'
When they arrived at the academy, while her siblings went to speak with the director who would arrive in a few minutes, she went to look for her brother. Not finding him, she discovered he had disappeared after waking up, so she began searching everywhere near the academy.
'Where is he? Why is he worrying me so much by disappearing like this? I'm going to punish him — he won't read with me for an hour today. Hehe, he'll suffer a lot for losing time with me after so long without seeing each other.'
Continuing her search, she finally found him and began running to him, where his companions also were.
'I finally found you, broth—'
"…Become stronger."
The words she heard from her brother's mouth before she was enveloped along with his companions and placed outside the barrier that began forming around the academy in just a second.
"Big brother?"
After that, it was discovered that some cult wanted to kill the academy students by trapping them inside, but this plan failed when Enrico interfered and activated some teleportation-like magic, making most students and their parents grateful for it. A man ranked ten arrived after a few hours, after Hao sent a message that somehow interested that man. He said it would take at least two years and a few months to break the barrier.
"This is very, very interesting. I'm going to have fun with this."
"I wish you weren't like this."
"Hahaha, you should respect your brother, or I'll use you for testing."
She was there when that was revealed; even so, that man stated seriously that he would be able to break the barrier, but he might already be dead when that happened — something Taíra did not believe at all, and apparently neither did her brother's companions.
'If he said that phrase, it means these companions of his aren't that strong… If they're not strong, then I'll become strong enough so he doesn't need them, since they couldn't help him.'
That was the thought she carried for the next two years and one month. She trained so much that when she turned fifteen, she immediately advanced to first circle, becoming the second highest evolver among first-year students, losing only to Victoria by a difference of five days.
'Brother, how much longer will you make me wait?'
Taíra was now fifteen, with a new strand of her long hair — reaching down past her waist — turned golden. Her body was now that of a teenager in full development, and without a doubt her beauty attracted several students, which made her huff.
"This beauty is only for my sister and brother, so stop looking at me."
Upon hearing those words, the students immediately turned their faces forward, since they did not want to face Taíra, who was rank 1 of class S.