Author's note: I'm back! My writing feels a little rusty again but it'll pick up as I go along :)

Rena was sitting at the designated spot, sitting down and looking at the flowers on the floor. The place was fairly desolate, like all the previous locations, but this time the battleground featured a few beautiful colors. Butterflies were flying frantically from flower to flower, bees were buzzing without break. It felt like a place of tranquility.

It made the next part all that much harder for her.

When Kyle finally arrived, she had made up her mind, she was going to bring Kyle's head back, even if it cost her her innocence. She wanted to join the Night Courses in order to gain as much strength as she can to regain the status of nobility.

"Hello, little lady."

The young man extended his hand to help her get up. She looked at him in surprise, but took it anyway. She got up and quickly dusted off her clothes. She wore dark jeans with a black shirt, clothes that could be easily moved around in, unlike the dress she usually wears to class, but more importantly: clothes that could be stained.

"Thank you," she said but she didn't dare look him in the eyes.

"Well then, I'm fairly sure you know the drill."

Rena was taken by surprise. After hearing Ymil's story, she'd thought that the Bellua brothers could barely speak their language, but Kyle seemed to have no problem conversing.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to ask, how did you learn our language so fast?"

This time it was Kyle's turn to be surprised. Not many people had noticed that he was not Halramian.

"Oh, so you've noticed? Yeah, it took some getting used to but your language is fairly simple, you only have 26 letters in your alphabet." Kyle revealed a big grin. "That's nothing compared to the 42 letter base we use back in Xenth."

"Wow, that's a lot..."

"And I used to think this place was a lot better than Xenth, but then my brother disappeared and someone stole all my money..."

"Really, your brother disappeared?" Rena tried to sound like she didn't know anything, but she felt as though he'd see right through her.

"Yeah, it's the strangest thing. After his first official match-up he just disappeared, poof. I talked to the guy he fought and he said that he beat my brother and that he went home."

'Well, Ymil did beat him but he didn't let him go home...' thought Rena as she listened to his explanation.

"I find it odd that he never told me he left. Sure, we weren't on the best of terms as we enrolled due to various 'circumstances', but he really should have told me."

"Circumstances?" What kind of circumstances could tear brothers apart?

"It doesn't matter, I think we should get started. If we talk for too long I might not be able to hurt you anymore."

'Tell me about it,' thought Rena. The more she talked to him, the more he appeared human. Killing a Xenthian had just been a concept to her, but killing someone she actually knows might prove to be something entirely different.

"Yes, let's get started. Shall we toss a coin?"

"And start when it strikes the floor? Sure!"

They both walked away and stopped at around 10 paces from each other. They turned around and looked in each other's direction but Rena still could not look the boy in the eyes.

"Pre-summon, I presume?" asked Kyle. It was a standard question: start with or without souls summoned.

"Sure, sounds good."

They both released their Souls at the same time. Rena's Soul was still shaped as a five-tailed whip with a lime colored gem stuck to the handle. It was as vicious as ever.

Kyle's Soul, on the other hand, was much more like his brother's. When he summoned it, his entire body started to transform and two large tusks came from his mouth. His skin became darker and leathery, his eyes slightly more focused.

"A pig?"

"No, a warthog," answered the transformed boy. "They're really strong, you know."

"If you say so. Will you toss the coin?"

"Look at my hands, do they look like they can toss anything?" Rena looked and saw that they had transformed into pig feet.

“Right....”

Rena took a coin from her pocket and flipped it up into the air. They both fell silent as the coin was ringing through the air, both focused entirely on their opponent. A bee buzzed past Kyle's face and...

*ping*

With a soft metallic sound the coin fell to the ground. Kyle rushed towards Rena immediately, but she took steps back herself.

"Hey, get back here, you slippery little weasel!" yelled the storming boar-guy.

“As if!”

The reason she picked the whip as her weapon of choice was because it worked at a range. Perfect for fights such as these. She was carefully observing Kyle's movements before she decided to take action. Kyle was very straight forward. His leathery skin and big bones probably made him a lot more durable so he just charged straight in.

'Looks like I should just hit and run,' she thought and she unleashed the coils of her whip.

*Snap*

She aimed her first attack at Kyle's legs but before they reached his limbs his speed increased and she missed by a hair's length. Kyle was slowly gaining on her in the process.

"That won't work, missy! Ranged combat on the run is a lot harder!"

He was right, but she still had to try.

*Snap*

She tried whipping his head this time but once again he was able to dodge it at the last second. It wasn't that he was being incredibly fast or evasive, her accuracy just dropped a lot because she had to keep running away from the boy.

*Snap*

Once again she missed. Rena was getting really tired and she wasn’t landing any hits.

'Guess I have no choice,' she thought to herself. She really didn’t want to do this, but she had no choice. No opponent had stuck to her so closely. She prided herself in her speed but for this pig boy was keeping up with her.

Rena stopped in the middle of her tracks and faced Kyle head on. She used both hands to hold the whip and poured a lot of spiritual energy into her weapon. The lime gem started to glow brightly and the five ends of her whip started to levitate.

"Now we're talking!" said Kyle as he saw her face his direction. He placed both his arms in front of him to shield his face from the whip and continued dashing towards her.

But that would not be enough.

When Rena lashed out her whip it didn't make a snapping noise, it exploded. The five tails flew out in Kyle's direction but on one of them hit and one flew closely past his head. Thinking that was the worst of it, Kyle knew he had a few seconds before she could reel in her whip and attack again so he dropped his defenses.

*BANG!*

The remaining four tails reached the end of their trajectory and broke the speed barrier. The energy Rena had stored into her whip was released at that exact moment, creating a small vacuum at the whip's ends and causing implosions.

The shockwaves of the ends caught Kyle completely off guard. Not only did he lose his balance and flew head first in Rena's direction, that whip that lashed past his head had imploded near his ears. As Kyle fell to the ground his entire body went limp. His eyes were closed and once his body slid to a halt he started to drool out of his mouth.

"Oh god, I'm really sorry!" This was why she barely ever used this attack. It was fairly simple to use but it was incredibly destructive to those without countermeasures. She didn't want to hurt her enemies this badly.

Rena hurried over the Kyle to check if he was alright but she found that he was unconscious.

She turned Kyle's body around and looked at the poor guy's face. The tusks in his mouth looked really out of place and the leathery skin made him look tanned.

'I guess I should do it then.'

Rena took her whip and coiled it up. She then forced it to change shape and a small dagger appeared in her hand. She placed the dagger to Kyle's face and took a last good look at the boy's face. She then looked around again to make sure that nobody was watching. Of course not, not in a place as remote as this. Her eyes went back to the boy's face and almost flinched.

A pair of big brown eyes were staring right at her. Kyle had woken up.

************************************

Let’s give Ragnar a moment in the spotlight as well. His last fight also didn’t go as he anticipated.

When Ragnar arrived at the location his opponent was already waiting for him. Arwin Ropalo, Ragnar’s last opponent, was standing against a wall. The location was as desolate as every other fight, there had to be a reason for that. This time it was some alley that nobody would would even think of entering. It greatly inhibited motion though, so Ragnar had to be careful.

“G-good afternoon,” said the boy.

“Good afternoon.” Ragnar shook the boy’s hand and observed him carefully. For someone that looked as unassuming as this boy did, he must have something up his sleeve to be able to get this far. “My name’s Ragnar, I come from Sophia Village.”

“N-nice to m-meet you, R-ragnar.” Was it because he was shy or did he genuinely have a stutter? Ragnar couldn’t tell. He had that same problem with Lance, but he liked that part of the guy. It made him unique in his own way. “I-I’m from….”

The boy’s words trailed off as his attention turned to something else. It seemed like he was listening to something, or someone, and nodded in response.

“I-I’m sorry, but c-could you resign from t-this fight?”

“Hell no, I fought hard to get to this point.” Was he being serious?

“Please, I-I really don’t w-want to hurt you.”

The nerve of this guy, why’d he think he could beat Ragnar so easily?!

“I think we should fight and see who wins, then you can worry about hurting me.” Ragnar tried to remain composed but he was obviously agitated.

“Okay… How do we s-start?”

“Like usual, 10 steps away from each other and a coin toss.”

Arwin nodded. He then proceeded to take a few steps back and faced Ragnar.

“I-is this f-far enough?”

“Yessir!” Could this kid be any more helpless?

Ragnar took a coin from his pocket and flipped it in the air. Dead silence followed, not even the wind made a noise (Ragnar still hadn’t learned how to make it ring like others do). They both started at each other intensely. Neither of them had summoned their souls yet.

*Ping*

As soon as Ragnar heard the coin hitting the ground he summoned his claymore. The weight of the sword appeared in both his hands and the cold blue blade was dangling in the air. It was the same as always.

As he looked up at his opponent he saw that Arwin had summoned a cudgel of some kind. It looked like a primitive version of a mace made entirely out of wood. The orange gem was stuck to the top. It truly was an ugly weapon.

But what Arwin did next took Ragnar completely by surprise. Arwin extended his right hand and a blue orb suddenly appeared in his palm. The boy then took it to his stomach and pushed it in as hard as he could.

“Oh crap,” said Ragnar as he stared in disbelief, he recognized what his opponent had done. It was something he himself had done when he fought Amalia. His opponent had fused with a Djinn.

“Ragnar, fuse with me!” said Ragnar’s bracelet. “You can’t hope to defeat him!”

“Won’t know unless I try. Hey Arwin, you also own a Djinn?”

The boy on the other side looked up and Arwin’s eyes had turned bright yellow.

“Nobody owns a Djinn, you fool,” said Arwin’s distorted voice. “Djinn’s are free to do as they please.”

What the heck was that? What had happened to the sweet stuttering boy from just a moment ago?

“Is that still you, Arwin?”

“That fool is nothing but a retainer. When we fuse I am me and no one else. Foolish mortal, you will perish!”

With those words Arwin’s body flew at Ragnar at an alarming speed. It took the Djinn a single step to get to Ragnar’s side and then swung the cudgel at Ragnar with full force.

Ragnar was barely able to block that attack but the impact was way too large. Ragnar skidded over the ground, dust flying up as his feet stayed under his body. It was a miracle that he hadn’t lost his balance.

But that wasn’t the end, the Djinn immediately followed his attack up with another dash and slammed his weapon down towards the ground. This time Ragnar was prepared and the following blow was parried to the side.

*BAM*

A small crater appeared at the place of impact. Dirt flew up everywhere and the whole place disappeared in a cloud of dust. It was impossible to see anything.

Ragnar used this opportunity to get away from his opponent. This boy was a maniac, he couldn’t tackle him head on.

“Why don’t you fuse with your mortal, Player. Show me your true form so I can feast on it!”

“Ragnar, fuse with me!” shouted Ragnar’s Djinn. “You stand no chance otherwise!”

“No, I can do this!” said Ragnar. There had to be a way to beat this guy without relying on the Djinn’s power. The last time he’d used the Djinn he felt dirty, as if he didn’t deserve to have won that fight. He got Amalia do be his girlfriend but it doesn’t feel real. That, and the Djinn’s power has a time limit…

“Wait, that’s it!” shouted Ragnar as he realized the Djinn’s major weakness, time. The Djinn has a limited amount of time it can fuse with its host, so if Ragnar could stay hidden until the Djinn’s power expired he should be just fine.

“You can’t hide!” shouted Arwin’s distorted voice and it was followed by a massive blow into a wall.

*BAM*

Luckily it wasn’t even close to where Ragnar had hidden and debris flew all over the place. More dust flew into the air, making the dust cloud last even longer. He obviously wasn’t the brightest of Djinns.

“Hay Djinn,” Ragnar whispered to his bracelet. “How long do you think those two can stay fused?”

“You don’t have the time, fuse with me, now!”

“No, I’m going to win this fair and square!”

“Fool, stop wasting time!”

“Come on, I’ll owe you one.”

The bracelet was silent for a moment, but then answered: “Judging from the amount of power he’s exerting, I’d say about 2 minutes.”

“Thank you, that’s all I needed to hear.”

“Be careful though, Djinn’s are masters of combat. He’s sure to have a few trick up his sleeve.”

The Djinn had barely uttered those words as the dirt started to blow be blown away by a draft. That hole in the wall his opponent had made caused wind to flow through the alley. He wasn’t all that stupid after all.

As the dirt lifted, Arwin’s body became visible again. He was standing in the middle of the alley, surrounded by rubble. The boy looked incredibly menacing, the yellow eyes staring right into the soul. But that wasn’t the worst of it, the true terror came from what was flying around him.

He was surrounded by a sea flames.

“Ragnar, fuse with me, NOW!”

Upon seeing such overwhelming power, Ragnar nodded. Pride was of no consequence when you're dead.