"Of all the days to overlap with, why tomorrow?" I sighed ruefully.

"I know, right?" Agreed Suri, with a despondent expression. ​​

Today was the 25th of February, 2116, and tomorrow was a really, really important day...Delectables was having another limited item, because apparently one of their regular customers was sick with some deadly disease and they're doing this to raise funds for her treatment or something...personally, I couldn't care less about that, I just wanted to get my hands on that limited item...but something else was happening tomorrow, which would overlap with the sale...the second round of monthly exams.

The teamwork exam was first this time, though it was going to be a lot simpler and wouldn't involve us leaving the Sanctuary since, you know, last time went so well. And the written exam was also going to be tomorrow, so by the time we'd be done, the limited item would almost definitely be sold out. A real tragedy. Damn it, why couldn't that customer get sick with whatever deadly disease, like, a week later?

I am fully aware of how insensitive that is of me, but in my defense, I just don't care. I'd say that's better than pretending to care about something or someone just to make yourself look better. Whatever, I'm getting off topic...my point is this, I'm pissed off because the timing of the exams couldn't be worse.

No, wait, the exams are pre-set to be given to us at the end of every month...so then the bad timing was on the part of Delectables. Well, as a last resort, I could go try the limited item tomorrow morning, and after I'm done, I'll use Load to go back in time and come here to take the exams. There was something unsatisfactory about going for that option though, but it was hard to explain.

I was currently in the cafeteria, half-heartedly eating some donuts. Suri was sitting at the same table, along with Kiran, who often sat with me since I wasn't the type to make small talk, and that let him enjoy his meal without being interrupted. I usually hated being spoken to while eating too, or at least I thought I did, but as it turns out, I don't mind if it's something worth talking about.

"You two really like sweets, huh?" Mumbled Kiran, as he dug into his bowl of chilli.

"And you're always eating spicy stuff, what, do you enjoy hurting yourself...you a masochist?" I inquired, as I took a bite out of a donut.

"No, but you sure as hell are a sadist."

"Yeah, I suppose so...at the very least, I'd prefer that over being a masochist though."

Suri was texting someone on her I-Watch, and her eyes suddenly lit up as she received a message.

"Yes! My mom said that she can pick up the sweets for me!" She exclaimed with a smile.

Huh, I think that's the first time I've seen her smile, she usually had a kinda grouchy expression on her face. But more importantly...

"Hey, could you ask her to get an extra one, or two if possible, I'll pay you tripl-...double for it!" I requested hopefully.

For a limited edition dessert, I would gladly cast aside my pride. But paying triple was a bit much, I can't spend more than I can afford.

"Hm? Sure, that's fine...actually, you can just pay me the normal amount, it's no big deal."

Woah...I wouldn't even have to think about using Save and Load in that case...

"...are you a Goddess?"

"D-don't be stupid!" She snapped with a huff.

Oops, didn't mean to say that out loud, just sort of blurted it out. Well, anyway, now that that was settled, I could take on tomorrow's exam with lot less of a weight on my shoulders. I was finally going to unveil my new weapons, I had more or less gotten used to them, having trained with them for the last four days.

Of course, I couldn't use them in a normal gym or training facility, since they were too powerful unless I switched them into Phantom Mode, but I wanted to train with them in their default modes. It was slight, but Phantom Mode does feel a bit different to using the weapons normally.

However, the training facilities in the X-Warrior Zone were different, they were made to withstand plenty of force. The problem was that only official X-Warriors were typically allowed to use them, students at the X-Warrior Academy weren't allowed to use them...unless they were being trained by an X-Warrior.

The condition was that the X-Warrior would have to be present in the booked training room with the student the whole time. So that's what I did. I have one final training session with my new weapons tonight, after this I should be fine with training with them in Phantom Mode. For right now, though, I'll focus on enjoying these donuts, they may be second-rate compared to Delectables, but it'd still be a shame to let them go to waste...

...

...

That evening, after classes ended for the day, I took a bus to the training facility I'd been using for the last few days. It was a pretty high-end place, and even a single hour-long session would usually be way out of my price range, but thanks to the X-Warrior who was helping me out, I got to use it for about two hours each day...for free.

Oh, and it should be pretty obvious, but the person training me was my sister. The only other X-Warrior I knew personally was Kumar, but he was busy setting up the teamwork exam so he didn't have time, and even if he did, I wouldn't want to train with him, his X-Abilities aren't really suited for regular sparring. Fortunately, my sister was free this week, so I borrowed a couple of hours of her time each day for the last five days, including today.

I walked into the facility after getting off the bus, heading for the receptionist. The staff here had definitely noticed that I was training with my sister, one of the few Aces of the Sanctuary, and they had probably figured out that I was her brother. I had initially been worried that the news might spread and I'd be on the receiving end of an annoying amount of attention, but my sister took care of that.

She indirectly, though not very subtly, threatened the staff here to keep this a secret, by implying that she would make sure that this place got no business at all in the future if they messed this up. That happened when she and I first came here, and a bunch of the staff were staring and whispering as they recognized her.

There hadn't been any other customers, so that was lucky. She was quick to notice the attention we were getting, and addressed the receptionist in a loud voice, making sure the rest of the staff could hear her. If I remember right, she said something like...

"This is a really nice place, and so professional too! I was reading up on your customer privacy policies, and I sure was pleased to see that you prioritize our privacy! I sure won't have to worry about anyone spreading rumors about me or anyone who I may or may not train with! Because if I do, well, I doubt a company that lies about its privacy policy will ever thrive, in fact, it just might end up shut down...oh, sorry, I tend to blabber a bit sometimes, hope I didn't bore you!"

Yeah...a not-so veiled threat. But it sure seemed to work. After that, it felt like the staff were going out of their way to get on her good side, and they were uncomfortably polite to me too. Just watch...

"Hi, I booked one of the training rooms for today-."

"O-oh, welcome, sir! I hope this day finds you well, please do not hesitate to ask us if there is anything we can do for you! Yes, your booking...I shall guide you to the corresponding training room immediately!" Responded the receptionist, trying to hide her nervousness as she blurted out before I could even finish my sentence.

I thought about telling her to chill out, but today was going to be the last time I come here for a while, my sister was going on another Mission tomorrow and I won't be able to come here by myself. The receptionist led me to the training room and left after more overly polite flattery. I guess the special treatment was nice, in a way...but it mostly made me uncomfortable, I just wasn't used to it.

"Hey, little bro! You finally made it!" Greeted Kilella, walking over to me as I entered the training room.

"You make it sound like I'm late, but I'm actually a couple of minutes early. Hey, where are the training bots?" I inquired, as I put on my X-Blasters.

I'd been testing out my new X-Weapons against the training robot dummies in this place, and after I used up most of my XFE, I'd switch to hand to hand combat with my sister till my stamina was used up.

"Oh, I didn't want to just sit back and watch today, since it's the last day I'll be able to get you into this place, let's do something a bit different...watching you over the last few days gave me a good idea of how strong you are, but to narrow down the accuracy of my estimate further, let's spar today, and not just regular hand to hand combat, but with XFE attacks too!"

Huh?

"Yeah, I don't think so...you're way overpowered, big sis, and I've heard about how you fight from Kumar, I doubt I'd survive-."

"Well, obviously I won't fight you the way I fought him, you're my little brother, I plan to go easy on you. For starters, I won't fly, and I won't use my Secondary Manifestation. Come on, what do you say?"

If I'm being honest, it was a pretty rare opportunity, fighting against an Ace would be really beneficial...but if I get injured, it'd compromise me during the exam tomorrow. Wait, who am I kidding, if that happens I can just go back in time!

"Sure, why not?" I replied with a smirk, before muttering under my breath, "."

"Sweet! Let's get nice and warmed up first, Zax, make sure to stretch or you'll-."

"That much I can do without you telling me, Ella."

We took about fifteen minutes to stretch and loosen up, another fifteen to do some basic training drills, and having worked up a bit of a sweat, she declared that we should start the first bout of sparring between us.

"Alright, ," She stated, her red XFE wrapping around her, though her wings didn't appear, "I said I wouldn't fly, but if I manifested my wings, I might end up doing it instinctively in the middle of sparring."

She could control her Manifestation to that extent, huh? Guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I took out my X-Blade handles and set my X-Blasters to maximum output and short-range mode. I also had my Barrier Bracelets and taser-knuckled gloves on, but that was it.

I wasn't using my smoke bombs, mainly because I had a limited supply and would have to commission more from Ruby when I ran out so I didn't want to be wasteful with them, and I also wasn't using the Square Blaster, more as a self-imposed handicap than anything else. That thing could do some serious damage.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

I braced myself as she shot forward towards me, firing a blast of red XFE from her palm at me, which I evaded right after firing a shot at it from my X-Blasters, to see if I could cancel it out, while dodging in case I couldn't. Her blast canceled out mine and shot forward, weakened but still intact. And I doubt that's the limit of how powerful her blasts can be.

She then closed in and swung a punch at my head, which I dodged and countered with another blast. She swiftly shifted her position, but I was able to take out a bit of her XFE armor around her left shoulder. She winced a bit, before rapidly spinning around on one foot and whipping her manifested tail towards me. I blocked it with one of my blades, but her impact was immense, knocking me off-balance.

She's really fast, and this is her holding back...I was slightly better than her in a regular hand to hand combat bout, but when she used her Primary Manifestation, her strength, speed and reaction time were all improved significantly. If she got an opening, I'd be screwed, and I was definitely screwed right now...

The instant she upset my balance, she sprang up and charged up blasts in each of her hands...there's no way I can regain my balance before she fires, I probably don't have enough time to cross my arms and form my barrier either. I swiftly flicked my left blade up as hard as I could, sending it rapidly spinning up straight at her.

I caught her off-guard but she's still quick to react, quickly dissipating the blasts and crossing her forearms together, the XFE around them growing thicker. My blade slashed them and left deep cuts, but it didn't reach her skin, only the XFE got cut, and it repaired itself in no time.

She then caught the handle, and the instant she did, the XFE blade changed from black from red. She then swung it straight down at me, I responded by forming my barrier around me, which cracked badly as she struck it, but didn't shatter.

As the blade got deflected, I swiftly took down the barrier and swung my other blade up and across, knocking the handle out of her grasp and sending it skidding away along the floor. Now's my chance, before she lands! I pointed both X-Blasters at her, but before I could fire, my eyes widened as I noticed blasts charged up and ready to be fired from her feet and tail...not good!

I sprang back and formed my full barrier around me as quickly as I could, right as she fired the blasts at me...crap...no way was my barrier going to be able to withstand three of her blasts! No other choice then...

"!" I mumbled inaudibly as fast as I could...

.

.

.

.

.

Holy crap, that was close. I mean, really close, my barrier was just about to shatter when I froze time, and the blasts were inches in front of me. Wait a sec, I moved my arms away from each other but the barrier is still intact. Uh...how do I get away?

Wait, the cracks in the barrier are pretty severe, it's like broken glass shards...maybe I can move them. I pushed on a section of the barrier a little away from the spot where the blasts were colliding onto it, aaannd...yes, it worked! Okay, if I shift the broken pieces of my barrier away, I can make an opening for myself to get out of. Better hurry, I lose one percent of my XFE every three seconds while time is frozen.

I got out of the barrier in about fifteen seconds, before jogging over to my sister and stepping behind her. I looked around the training room quickly but thoroughly...good, it doesn't look like there are any security cameras in here. I then held my blade in front of my sister's neck...

"....so, do I win?" I inquired, as her blasts struck the spot where I'd been when I used Pause.

"Huh? Wha-...? Oh, you used your Anomaly X-Ability, I almost forgot about that...," She replied, letting out a sigh after initially freaking out a bit.

"Well, I hadn't planned on using it, but I was pretty sure that last attack of yours would have done some serious damage if I didn't use it."

"Oh, crap...you're right, I got kinda carried away, my bad, little bro. But you're pretty good, Zax, you sure kept me on my toes...I think we should train together more often, and next time, you can take me while I go all out, and you use your X-Ability too, 'kay?"

"Uh...we'll see. There's still plenty of time, you won't be free for a while due to your Missions right? So let's just focus on making the most of this training session."

"Yeah, you're right! Alright, ready for round two!?"

"...maybe you should simmer down a bit. But yeah, I'm ready when you are. Oh, wait, first there's something I want to try. When you grabbed my X-Blade handle earlier, did you run your XFE through it?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I think so...I probably didn't need to, but I think in the back of my head, I was afraid of your Dark Attribute poisoning me, so I ended up overriding it with my XFE instead...seriously, Dark Attribute poisoning is the worst, definitely my least favorite type of XFE to fight against."

Overriding it, huh...I wonder...

"Interesting...hey, when you activate your Manifestations, does the XFE initially manifest from a specific point, or how does it work?"

With my X-Blades, the XFE manifests from the handle, so that raises the question...do Prodigies have an initial point of manifestation when activating their X-Abilities?

"Huh, I've never really thought about it, but...I do get a kinda tingly feeling on my back, the spot between my shoulder blades and a little below the base of my neck."

"I see. Hm, if this works, then...hey, sis, before we start the next round of sparring, there's something I want to test out..."

.

.

.

.

.

It worked...it actually worked! Holy crap, no way...and based on her expression, my sister was just as surprised as I was.

"Zax, what...what did you just do...?"

"Honestly, I wasn't actually expecting it to work, this is incredible," I responded with a wide grin of disbelief, "Well, anyway, that's all I wanted to test out, so let's get back to sparring!"

"Sure, just give me a sec to process what just happened...I don't feel so good..."

After a few minutes break, we continued training. Following that first close bout, the next few rounds of sparring were pretty one-sided, my sister fighting a bit more seriously. I didn't use my powers again, but mainly because she was attacking too fast for me to recite the activation chant.

She was mindful to hold back on her blasts though, so even though I was losing badly, I wasn't getting particularly hurt, physically speaking. My ego was pretty bruised though. Oh, well, it's gonna be worth it...no better way to get stronger than by fighting someone stronger than I am...

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