"Ever wondered why the One-Shotter seemed to have never run out of power?" Wu asked as Lera returned from her day of sparring. She popped by and watched over his shoulder before Wu stood up from his resting squat and showed her the drawing of a box, "I always thought the Cast of Containment completely blocks out the flow of the Wave in and out of the gemstone...but that's not true, even if the Void Domain is simply an inverted version of the Cast of Containment where the effects of the Cast was projected outward.

"Okay..." Lera blinked a few times and leaned in closer instinctively, though that made Wu's heart skip a bit as he shifted slightly away, trying to respect the distance between the two. Lera looked at him strangely before pressing her lips together and stood straight up and away, "How does it work?"

"One of the components here allows for one-directional flow of the Wave..." Wu said, "So it's constantly seeping the Wave from the environments and recharging the gemstone. However, there is a threshold for that, so we don't get a massive level of Wave input all at once. Come, try to put your hand over here and give it just a tiny bit of Wave."

Lera did so, and she pressed her finger onto the exterior of the gemstone's case and slowly guided the Wave within her towards it. There was a sense of tension originating from the point of contact, and the Wave slowly started leeching away from her fingers, though it was so slow that Lera would need to focus to have felt it.

Lera raised her eyebrows before nodding, "How did you figure this out?"

"He had help." Ver's voice came from behind her as she brought along a plateful of grilled vegetables and fish.

"Ver's Wave control on a micro-level is extremely precise, thanks to the Kraken's tendril." Wu said, giving Ver a thumbs up, "Though I still don't know if the gemstone has an expiry date, at least we can be certain that it won't go out on me in the midst of battle anytime soon."

"Great." Lera said, spinning around, "I...uh...need a shower."

"An evening shower?" Wu asked, picking up one of the cut pieces of fish before wrapping it in a fresh leaf.

"Yeah yeah." Lera said, pacing away as Wu and Ver ate together.

"What's the deal with her now? Did you do something?" Ver asked, her eyes fixated on Wu's face as he shrugged. As the cold water ran down Lera's hair and onto her smooth skin, she pressed her fist into the side of the wall and tried to calm her heart through breathing practices. But seeing Wu asking for Ver's help, and seeing the two of them share a meal together...

No, all of this is normal. She told him to act normal, and that's also what she would try to do. All of this...is the right thing to do, and she will just have to accept it. Focus on the work, and everything else will come later.

It took Wu a whole day off sparring to incorporate the Void Domain Laser into his suit of armor fully. By attaching the focus Casts over his wrist, he is then able to project the Void Domain Laser to wherever his palm is facing.

Suffice to say, this is now his Iron Man armor, Mark 2. Or at this rate...he need another name.

"How about Voidman Armor?" Ver suggested, her fingers up in the air, "Emptyman Armour?"

"You are really bad at this. How about just Void Armor? Void suit?" Wu rubbed his chin, "Lera, what do you think?"

"...Lera?"

"Ah!" Lera blinked a few times and looked over to Wu as she quickly closed her book of Cast while sitting over her sleeping mat, "I...both sounds good."

"I swear I heard three things." Augen said, "I am blind, not deaf."

"S...sorry." Lera hid her head in between her knees before lying down, "I am tired."

"Let's start with Void suit first, since the void part is literally on my skin." Wu laughed and lied back as Ver did the same next to him, "Sounds like a cool merchandise name."

"Nobody's gonna buy it unless you paint it in some fancy colors other than black." Ver said, rubbing her fingers together with a gesture of money, "The Kraken might be able to help you with the ink choices."

And so the next day, Wu showed up to the battlefield with his Void suit literally painted a camouflaging green, at last moving past the fashion inspiration for the initial Ironman suit.

"I look forward to our spar, Wu." Braka said, pressing his palms together and bowing forward.

"Like-wise." Wu said, "If I am being honest, I also wanted to join the Winter Wars."

"Then let us fight with no regrets just like we would have." Braka said, pooling the Wave within his body before he created lines of scratch marks over his own arms with his nails and drawing out thin lines of his own blood, "Blood Blade: Rise."

"Crater-making shot." Wu reached his hand forward and fired off a massive blast from his One-Shotter that whizzed through the air in an instant and exploded over Braka's body. The latter didn't move from his initial position and took the hit head-on.

There is a loud yet brutal splattering sound as pieces of Braka's flesh exploded all around and became stuck to the trees, sand, and rocks around them. All of those individual detached pieces of flesh and bone then started glowing dark red before lines of the Wave connected them back to Braka's body. His entire stomach and chest were blown open, and Braka moved forward as his heart beat while exposed.

"Blood Red Prison Dance!" Braka said as Wu saw his voicebox twitched in mid-air. The lines of Wave from the chunks of flesh then pulled him forward like a puppet controlled by strings as Braka dashed towards Wu. His body's then healing as he traveled through the air.

Wu activated the Wave blasts underneath his feet and pulled back when even more lines of Wave started forming from all around him, the sensation burning into Wu's skin and armor. Somehow, the lines of Wave connecting Braka's body and blown pieces of flesh are so incredibly hot like molten iron.

"Tsk." Wu grunted in pain before he swiftly turned his wrist, activating Void Domain Laser and sweeping it through the lines of Wave, severing their connection with Braka and freeing the puppet from its strings.

What remained of Braka's face showed an expression of surprise, and he dropped onto the ground before his legs caught him from underneath. However, Wu lunged forward, switching back from Void Domain Laser to a unidirectional Void Domain Special and blasting himself towards Braka, hoping to knock him out before he could regenerate.

"Lily told me about your Void Domain Special." Braka said, tasting the sensation of Wave being stiffened all throughout his body.

"Yeah, how is it?" Wu asked, his fist back at the ready before be prepared to enable the use of the Wave over his fist and blast Braka to the ground.

"Powerful." Braka said, "Equally exploitable!"

Then, Braka rapidly flexed his elbows as the pieces of his flesh right underneath Wu's feet where the Void Domain is inactive came to life and latched onto the bottom of Wu's feet. Like steel cables, the strands looped around Wu's shoes and pinned him to the ground as his face slammed into the sand.

"Shit!" Wu cursed, his mind rapidly analyzing what just happened when Braka jumped towards Wu, intending to finish him off. That was when Wu flipped his wrist around and sent another Crater-making blast that tossed Braka's body over the tree lines.

As Braka moaned from behind the trees, Wu also rolled around and rest his hand over his forehead. There is no way Braka could have activated any of the Casts whilst in the Void Domain. That meant the arm action performed were simply meant to distract him while the detached pieces of flesh did their own pre-programmed Cast.

To think a Caster can use injuries to get strong and control and program all detached pieces of flesh like that...Wu wondered if Braka had ever won a fight by grossing his opponents out, and how the hell he hasn't died of infection so far.

"Good Fight." Wu and Braka both bowed to one another politely before Wu walked away with a sore back and stuffy nose while Braka slowly regenerated his body.

After a much-needed nap and shower, Wu then went to face his next opponent, as Matty Joel sat on top of a piece of rock by the beach when Wu landed softly after a short flight.

"Have your troubles been cleared away?" Matty asked, slowly raising up onto his feet, "You seemed like the true leader, despite Fatera's antics."

"Hah, yeah. I think so." Wu said, stretching his arms and cracking his neck, "I trust Fatera, and I trust Lera. They will come together."

"Very well." Matty smiled, rolling back his white hair and showing his handsome face in all its tanned glory, "Then, let's have a good fight!"

With his unsettled Manifest surging out from within his body, Matty coated his body with Yuna's surging tiger style Wave armor before charging forward at Wu as they exchanged rapid blows.

For many, they utilize slightly different skillsets during one-on-one sparring matches and their team battles, such as Matty using more facilitative and larger scale Manifestations during team battles and more personal small-scaled duplication Manifests against Wu. However, this is precisely the merits of sparring, as it became a testing ground for both fighters’ broader combat abilities.

"Void Domain Laser!" Wu said, focusing the dark rings around his wrist towards Matty as it cut straight through his body, nearly breaking apart his Manifest as he forcibly rolled and spun in the air, trying to avoid Wu. Then, he landed and punched the ground, launching himself forward before unleashing a series of claws, kicks, and slashes towards Wu with the latter flying back rapidly and moving out of the way of his attacks.

"You moved so much better!" Wu can't help but notice his progressions ever since the Winter Wars. Matty must have trained hard alongside Yuna over the past little while, and it showed in his poise in using her move sets, going swiftly from one stance to another and manipulating his body's momentum expertly.

Being someone that had always duplicated what others did, Matty had to be an incredibly quick learner. And soon, he was able to consistently avoid Wu's Void Domain Laser. As he closed in, his punches prepared to land on Wu's body, Wu reached his hand forward and murmured, "Void Domain."

Anticipating the same Wave-inhibiting field being projected, Matty immediately pulled back all hints of the Wave back into his body, but it turned out to be the same blank trick that Wu had pulled on Fatera. As Matty became clouded briefly by confusion, Wu fired off a blast and knocked him onto the ground.

"Fuck...Cheeky..."