Cassandra pov

"[Flare]"

[Flare] is a short range fire attack that sends a burst of searing flames. It has no trouble turning the corpse to ash or even melting that knight's armor. I waited a few minutes after Cyril left, so he should be back at the village by now.

"Ugh what was I thinking? I should have just made him fight another monster."

It was only a Human, but he still looked disturbed. Maybe because they look like us? He has killed animals before and this is not any different. Is he just that much of a caring soul? Regardless, I should head back home as well to check up on him.

Starting my walk back, I go over the fight that just occurred. Cyril's fighting style is still a bit...scummy. Seems like it may just be in his nature to be trickster. Not only that, but the kind of magic someone uses says a lot about them. People who learn summoning magic more often than not want others to fight for them instead of having to get their own hands dirty. Perhaps it would be for the best to just let him use that technique.

His ability [God's Tongue] sure is really though. He was speaking perfect Humanitary without even realizing it. Even though I am so old I never really bothered to learn too much of it. Why should I have to learn such a disgusting language, made by disgusting things? It is not like I will ever hear anything other than "Please stop!" or "Mercy!"

"Honey, there you are! Looks like we beat you here."-Corwin

Standing at the entrance of the village are my Husband and my eldest son. Behind them is another Amphisbaena. Dead of course.

"Mom, where is Cyril? Is he already home?"-Lucas

"Yes, Sweetie. I told him to go ahead. What did you catch today?"

"I killed another Amphisbaena. They are nasty to clean, but they taste so good!"-Lucas

They do taste damn good. Should I make another stew?

"Hahah indeed they do. Alright, let us go home now. This time we will have Cyril help us clean it."-Corwin

Lucas pov

"Cyril! Come see what I hunted today today."

Calling out for my little brother as I run inside the house, I thought he would be in his room. He was just sitting at the dinner table though. He looks like he is thinking about something. I wonder what he is thinking of?

"What'cha thinking about?"

I decide to ask him what is on his mind, but he just continues to stare at the table. Did something happen maybe?

"Cyril!"

Getting impatient I shout in his ear. It must have hurthis ears because now he is holding them.

"What! What do you want?"-Cyril

Crap! D-Did I make him mad?

"Sorry I didn't mean to...Are you okay?"

I do not want him to hate me. I have to be a good example for him!

"Oh it's just you Big Bro. It's okay. You just hurt my ears. What's up?"-Cyril

Hmm he seems fine now. I have never seen Cyril like that before. What happened today?

"I was just asking if you wanted to see what I killed today. Cyril, are you fine?"

"Yeah I'm okay. Just had some tough training today. Let's go see what you caught!"-Cyril

".....Sure."

Something is definitely wrong. He has never shouted at me like that before. Why does he pretend?

"Come on! Let's go!"-Cyril

It must be something he does not want to talk about, so I will leave it at that for now. I will talk to him about it later. If he can't trust me enough to tell me his problems, how will I ever be a good role model? Anyway, we walk outside to where Mom and Dad are waiting. On the ground by their feet is the Amphisbaena with its tummy face up.

"There you are Cyril! Quickly, take out your sword and chop this thing's heads off."-Corwin

Looks like Dad wants to hurry this up so he can eat. And Cyril does not even hesitate. Already with his Falchion unsheathed he dashes towards the Amphisbaena and chops one head off. Not even three seconds later the other head rolls. All that was definitely with the intent to kill. The feeling he gave off made my skin crawl. So much so that I had grabbed on to one of my throwing knives without even realizing it.

"Easy son! It is already dead. No need to be too violent."-Corwin

"Sorry... My body moved on its own."-Cyril

Both Mom and Dad are surprised. I knew something was wrong. I have to help him somehow.

"Dear, can I speak with you in the kitchen? Lucas why don't you teach him how to do it while me and your Father discuss something."-Cassandra

"Uh sure."

I say, before they walk inside. Mom looked pretty nervous like she was trying to hide something.

"Here take this skinning knife. It's much sharper than your sword so be careful."

He does not say anything before taking the knife from my hands. This is really strange. One second he is in deep thought, the next he completely fine and now it is back to complete silence.

"What you do next is-"

"I know what to do."-Cyril

Interrupting me before I could fully explain the next step, he already starts to cut it down the middle. And then he cuts the threads connecting the tissue to the muscle. Next he peels away the skin and removes the guts afterwards. How does he know how to gut and clean it? We have never let him do something like this before, yet he already knows how! Not even the putrid smell is making him flinch.

"Where is the water? I need to clean it off."-Cyril

All I can do is point to where the buckets of water are. I really do not know what to say. I wish Mom and Dad would hurry up and help me out here.

"Big Bro."-Cyril

"Huh?"

He finished that surprisinjgly fast. All of the blood is already off the corpse.

"Wow~ you finished fast. Did you need something? "

He hands the blood soaked skinning knife back to me without a word. He has not let go of it yet so we are both holding on to it. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

"Will you fight me?"-Cyril

Looking my right in the eyes he asks me this. Is he serious? He only started learning how to fight a few days ago and he already wants to fight me. I don't want to hurt him...

"No weapons or magic. I just want to fight you with my fists. Please."-Cyril

".....Fine. We can sneak out when Mom and Dad are asleep."

I propose this plane since I don't want to get in trouble. However, Cyril does not seem to like this plan. His grip on the knife tightens as he lowers his head. I don't know what happened today, but I can tell he really wants this.

"Fine."-Cyril

Letting go of the knife, he speaks a single word before walking back inside. Only a few days of training and Cyril already has a scary bloodlust. I hope that this sparring match will turn him back to his usual self. I do not like this Cyril. I like the Cyril that is sweet and caring. The one that looks up to his big brother.