(The Primus Branch has defeated an enemy and captured their emblem! They extend their lead by another 10 points, for a total of 20 points!)

The announcement rang out declaring Nen’s defeat and Miko’s victory. Cheers rain down from the audience.

“That was a very entertaining battle!”

“Miko dominated but Nen did great!”

“I’m kinda looking forward to seeing how these two develop as martial artists and Vita users.”

“Miko.”

Kristen approached Miko.

“Are you okay?”

Miko deactivated his Vita and stumbled a bit before holding his ground.

“I won’t be able to use my Vita for a while and my body is exhausted, but I’ll be okay after some rest.”

“I see….KC got away.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“The moment Miko started explaining what was happening to Nen, KC took off.”

Karim frowned.

“He realized that Miko purposely pushed Nen to achieve Limit Break. He knew that since Miko planned it, he was confident that he could still defeat Nen in that state. KC is an archer, he’s been trained to read the tides of battle and know when to retreat and when to strike. He figured that Nen was going to lose and that he would end up in a situation where he had to face Miko and Kristen alone. So he didn’t hesitate to escape. He might seem cowardly to leave Nen behind but in the grand scheme of things, he made the right decision.”

Al-Shura explained.

Miko sat down and Ishma and Regis appeared beside him.

“Kristen, I want you to experience as much fighting as possible. So I want you to leave me here to rest up.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry. These two will take care of anyone that tries to attack me.”

Kristen stared at Miko for a bit before running off. Miko smiled watching him before laying on the ground.

(You overdid it.)

Tia’s voice played in his head.

“I told you using Enlighten Vita would fuck you up, but you didn’t listen.”

Ishma poked his sides with her foot.

“Can you continue?”

Regis asked.

“Of course he can. I’ve yet to fight! Hey, use Crow King for the next fight so I can take control of your body!”

“You’re really heartless huh?”

“I just wanna fight. Buzz off.”

Miko closed his eyes while the girls argued around him.

(Team Tertitus has scored 10 points after killing 10 enemy soldiers!)

An announcement caused him to reopen his eyes a short while later.

Let’s go back around 15 minutes. The Tertitus group was teleported to a random location near an oasis.

“Oh? We’re lucky to be teleported here.”

Said Cait, as she looked at the oasis.

“You’re right.”

Ren nodded in approval.

“Even though it’s slim, there’s a chance that there’s a woman, who was sweating from walking through the desert, bathing over there.”

He spoke with a serious face.

“It’s decided, let’s go investigate!”

“No.”

Cait slapped the back of his head.

“Be serious. We’re in the middle of a battle you know. One wrong move and we could be defeat—oi, why are you striping while I’m talking to you, you son of bitch?”

Cait glared at Ren, who had taken off his jacket and held it in his hand while unbuttoning his shirt.

“What, you say? I’m going to take a bath of course.”

“I told you that no woman is bathing over there!”

“Ah, I know that. It’s just that mentioning it made me feel like having a bath.”

“We’re in the middle of a battle you know?!”

She pointed at the sky.

“Not only that, we’re being watched. What do you think Lord Alexus is going to say seeing you like this?”

“Cait.”

He put his hand on her shoulders.

“I’ve given up.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t want to join this stupid battle in the first, but I was forced because of the Branch’s honor and whatnot. I won’t be able to fight those guys with my half-ass resolve, so why bother?”

He released her shoulder and continued to undressed.

“I’ve already entered so that should save the Branch some face. I’m just going to enjoy myself until everything’s over.”

“Wait! You’re really going to strip? Right here in front of all these people?!”

“So? If we just consider it fan service it will be fine.”

He started to unbutton his pants. Alexus looked at the monitor with deadeyes.

(He’s going to kill him when this is over.)

Everyone around him thought the same thing.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! If you want to bathe so badly then go! Just strip over there!”

“Alright.”

He walked away with his shirt and jacket in hand. He stopped and looked back.

“You aren’t going to peek are you?”

“I won’t! And why are you acting like you have an ounce of shame?!”

“What? You aren’t?”

Ren looked disappointed.

“And here I thought I was going to be able to show off my big magnum.”

“I don’t want to see it!”

Cait shouted with a slight blush.

“Get it over with, you damn pervert!”

“Wanna join me?”

*Boom!*

Ren was hit by a blast and was sent crashing into the oasis.

“……I feel so ashamed to have two younger brothers like this.”

Kirika held her head in her hands.

“Why? He was a true gentleman.”

Alec, on the other hand, wore a proud expression.

(You’re definitely the reason why he’s like that.)

Everyone around him thought the same thing. Cait turned her back to the oasis and sighed.

“Why are the men in our clan like this? Hey, Sura-”

Cait turned around and froze. Sura was only in his underwear and was holding his clothes in his hands.

“……….”

“……….”

The two silently stared at each other for a while, before Cait finally broke the silence.

“…..You wanted to have a bath too?”

Sura nodded.

“…..Fine. Just go.”

Cait held her face in her hands. Sura nodded and went towards the oasis.

“………”

The other Guardians turned toward the Tertitus Guardian, Mikel.

“….I…He…Listen, Sura is a good kid. I’m not just saying that as his father.”

“Again, why are the men in my clan like this?”

Kirika nodded because she could understand Cait’s pain so much it hurts.

It happened while Cait was waiting for Ren and Sura while leaning on a tree.

“Hm?”

She felt like she was being watched. She scanned the area but didn’t spot any abnormalities. However, she didn’t let her guard down. It was the opposite.

(An enemy? It looks like they’re using the Mors Clan assassination techniques to throw me off.)

She leaned off the tree.

(Who is it? The Primus and Secundus branch are both closely related to the Mors clan so it can be them.)

She activated her Vita and spread it around her.

(No, who it is doesn’t matter. What I should be focused on is what kind of technique they are using. Is it just camouflage, that turns them invisible? Or is it Reprint that can paste your presence at any location?)

She slowly retreated towards the oasis. It was at that moment, a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her face.

“Crap!”

Her head was smashed through the tree and into the sand. She drew a dagger from her waist and slashed it in front of her. The hand disappeared as if the attacker had retreated. She sprung to her feet. She held the dagger in her hand while scanning the area.

(They slipped past my Vita and attacked me? There’s only one person in our generation I know who is capable of that.)

Her eyes sharpened.

“Stop with the hide and seek and come out, Kane!”

“Ashur is a beast of a fighter with immense firepower which makes him a great military asset. However, he’s a failure of a soldier because of his personality. To balance him out, two persons were picked to form a unit with him. These two were trained to be complete opposites of Ashur and cover areas where he lacked. These two were Kane and Hal.”

Alec turned to Al-Shura and Alosia.

“If I remember correctly, Kane is an assassin-killer. An assassin trained to kill assassins.”

He smiled.

“He’s an incredibly bad matchup for Cait.”

Cait heard something cutting through the wind and jumped to the side to avoid some shurikens. Immediately after, a sword stabbed towards her head from her blind spot. She moved her head and avoided it while striking towards where the sword came from. She felt her palm making contact and twisted it. A burst of Vita flowed out.

*Bam!*

Someone appeared while being blown back. Cait chased after them and pulled out a baton. She jumped and swung the baton down on the person’s head. The baton forced their upper body deep into the sand, leaving their lower body exposed. She looked down on her attacker.

“They were wearing a mask. If I remember correctly, Hal and Kane both wore masks. Wait…”

She remembered the mask the attacker was wearing. It was a blank white mouth-mask. She compared it to the ones Hal and Kane wore. They were black and had snake designs on them.

“It’s not him!”

Alec’s eyes narrowed as he saw a sword rushing at Cait

“Cait lacks battle experience and is probably the most innocent of her generation. She’s a bad match against someone who specializes in deception like Kane.”

Cait turned around and thrust out her palm. The sword stabbed through her hand and stopped inches away from her eyes.

“?!”

Cait was shocked when she saw the face of her new attacker.

“A soldier?!”

Someone appeared behind them wearing a black gauntlet with long hooked blades near the knuckles. They swung their hand and the hook-blades ripped into Cait’s defenseless back.

“Ahhhh?!”

Blood sprayed out from her back. She gritted her teeth and spun around with a kick, but she hit air. Chains burst out of the ground and wrapped around her leg that was in mid-swing.

“Wha?!”

Her leg was pulled under the sand and made her lose her balance. She fell on her back. Immediately after her back touch the sand, five blades pierced through her and came out her front.

“Guh?!”

Bloodstained her clothes and flowed out of her mouth. Three more soldiers emerged from under the sand and surrounded her.

“Target neutralized.”

Someone appeared out of nowhere and walked up to Cait, who still had swords sticking out of her. Tall and lanky, azure and golden hair with eyes to match, pale brown skin, wearing a black suit without any remarkable features, and a black mouth-mask with serpents on it. It was the Assassin Killer, Kane.

“It took a lot of trouble but thanks to you moving as predicted I was able to have you as my captive.”

He said while looking down on Cait.

“Kane used the soldiers to take down his target and even made it look easy.”

Momo couldn’t hide her amazement.

(The Quintus Branch must’ve employed a member of the Mors Clan to teach him. Lady Kimiko definitely assigned them a great teacher.)

Cait looked up at Kane while breathing heavily.

(I fucked up. My organs were spared purposely so that they get cut if I struggled. It’s his way of telling me that he could’ve killed me if there wasn’t a rule preventing that.)

Cait grimaced

(What should I do?)

“I advise against meaningless struggling.”

Kane interrupted her thoughts.

“You’re already trapped. The rest of my soldiers are already doing the same thing to your teammates.”

“Hahahaha!”

Cait burst out laughing.

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m the weakest of the three of us. Those two are several times stronger than me, especially Renatus. There’s no way they’ll allow-”

Cait was unable to finish her sentence because she saw five soldiers marching out of the oasis. On their shoulders were two posts that had two naked people tied to them. They were naturally Renatus and Sura.

“You were saying?”

Kane indicated at the soldiers with his thumb.

“What the hell are you two doing?! How did you let yourself get captured?!”

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story.”

Said Ren.

“I felt someone creeping up on me and thought that it was you were trying to take a peek of my big magnum because you couldn’t fight the temptation. The next thing I knew, I was jumped and the rest is as you see it.”

“Kill you! I’m going to kill you when this is over!”

“I understand, little brother. I’ve too have fallen for the same trick when I was younger.”

Alec nodded and wiped a tear from his eyes.

“I thought that it was a beautiful fairy, but it was a giant tarantula.”

“……….”

Kirika really felt the need to erase her brothers from history, but she realized that wouldn’t be enough to erase the shame she felt.

“Listen, you damn pervert!”

Cait pointed at Renatus

“Yes?”

“You better save me and forced Kane away….!”

She smiled.

“If you don’t, I’ll shout out your browser history for all the royals to hear!”

“Evil! You’re too evil, Cait!”

"Shut up, and do it if you don’t want everyone to hear about what you searched for or what site you visited believing in your privacy.”

“You monster!”

“Fight, goddammit!”

“Fine! You win!”

Ren grumbled a little while he was still tied up. It was then it happened. He stuck out his tongue allowing everyone to see a strange tattoo on it. It was Alchemy sigil. It lit up and the pole and rope used to tie him, which were made of anti-magic material, were reduced to dust. He twisted his body and landed on all fours. A huge Alchemic Sigil appeared around him and the soldiers.

“Desert Coating!”

The desert came alive and devoured the soldiers. The sand forced its way inside them through their mouths. Two sigils appeared in the palms of his hand. He snapped his fingers.

“Furnace.”

The sand and the soldier were surrounded by a scorching burst of flames. Shortly after, it disappeared leaving the soldiers encased in pillars of glass. Kane saw this and was amazed by the techniques Renatus used to turn everything around in a split second. However, he didn’t let his guard down and placed a sword at Cait’s neck.

“Don’t move.”

He made the remaining five soldiers surround Renatus.

“I don’t need to.”

He rapidly closed and reopened his eyes to reveal a pair of sigils in his pupils.

“Wha?!”

Under Kane’s shocked gaze, Ren's eyes projected the two sigils to appear in front of him. They quickly multiplied and surrounded him like a wall.

Hundreds of weapons shot out and skewered the soldiers in a split second.

“I heard a rumor that his body has been modified but this is ridiculous.”

Kane muttered in shock.

“When he was born, Renatus was a frail child with a weak body and poor health. To prevent him from dying young, my grandfather, father, and the other top alchemists in the Tertitus Branch used Alchemy to strengthen his body. However, they went past simple strengthening. They modified him into a walking Alchemic grimoire. Every inch of his body was engraved with Alchemy techniques and teachings, allowing him to excel in Alchemy at an unbelievable rate. He could also use Alchemy in ways no one else could. For example, having Alchemic sigils being projected from his eyes.”

Alec grinned.

“Ren is an alchemist’s dream everybody else’s nightmare.”

“…......”

Kane scanned the area.

“Looks like it’s time to retreat.”

He faded into nothingness.

“Sorry, it’s too late for that.”

A giant sigil covered the entire area. The area turned cold as all the heat left the sand and floated in the air. It condensed together into a giant ball.

“Game over.”

With a snap of Renatus’s fingers, the ball of scorching air fell on a certain spot and exploded.

“Guuaaaaaah?!”

Kane reappeared at that spot being roasted as he screamed.

*Boom!*

The hot air exploded again causing a sandstorm. When it faded away, Kane was seen standing in a spot that had turned into glass.

“….Tsk. He got away.”

Kane crumbled and was carried away like ashes in the wind.

(He escaped leaving behind a double to fool me. Not bad.)

Renatus’s smiled.

(Team Tertitus has scored 10 points after killing 10 enemy soldiers!)