"Gods...what the hell is all this noise about?", Yuno woke up from the noise outside.

Morning struck soon, as Yuno hastily trained Lass into the wonders of his powers. But little did he know that Lass had but stuck on the training grounds for the entire night, till the break of dawn...

"Hmph. Weaklings."

"What the hell? You stayed up all night long?"

Yuno was then greeted with a sight most admirable. Broken training dummies, defeated illusions and even partially gone landscape was all that was left after Lass's long night of training...

"What? It's typical."

"This is what you call 'typical'?", Yuno folded his arms.

"It's how it went the few times I had the chance to train. What of it?"

"My god...your powers are that severely strong? Even I didn't know..."

"You call them strong? Please, this is no time to joke around. I have to keep going. Can you create more targets? I ran out.", Lass eagerly said.

"Are you dead serious about this? You are seriously that naïve and modest?! Look around you! You clearly overworked yourself, and you want to go further ahead? There's a defining line between what is considered healthy and unhealthy training. And by all means, you have stepped into the second half!", Yuno yelled at Lass.

"Like I said. Mediocre and far bellow adequate for what the task at hand requires. Are you going to do as I said?"

"No I'm not. You will now sit down and relax. You went on the entire night without a single moment of rest, so that will severely affect your performance in actual combat anyway. Eat something first, or even sleep for goddess's sake!"

"Hah. Fine.", Lass slammed his sword through the ground. "We'll have it your way.", he sat down.

"You can close your eyes for a bit if you want."

"I'm not tired."

"Then grab something to eat real quick?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Oh shut it already! I get it your friends where taken away and you're worried...doesn't mean you'll have to punish yourself for it!

"Punishment? Do you have any idea of what proper training is supposed to be? I always used to go above and beyond it with dad."

"Of course I know what proper training is like! I've been doing so my entire life! This is just beyond extreme!"

"I, obviously, am fine.", he sighed. "But...I guess I'll take it. Let's go by your standards. What's in for breakfast?", Lass looked around.

"Anything you can eat."

"I guess...thanks.", Lass let his guard down and took a seat.

Finally sitting down Yuno could not help but shift his focus on both Lass and the training grounds behind him...

"So...let's try to break the ice a bit shall we?"

"I don't like idle chit-chat. Or anything of this sort...", Lass looked away.

"Ok listen, I get it. We got off at the wrong foot, but we're supposed to be together for life. So let's at least try to act nice to each other.", Yuno shrugged.

"I do not particularly...dislike you. I do have to admit that the way we met was...undesirable. And as such I was quick to make up fast conclusions."

"Good. Glad we got that cleared."

The atmosphere at the moment seemed to ease between the two, as genuine words were thrown around for the first time, without the heat of battle or stress of the rush...

"This is the point where you say, 'I'm also sorry for being a half-baked smartass, and playing boss with you'."

"Uh not so much."

"You little bastard...", Lass look at Yuno with a straight face.

"Alright sorry. Just a joke? You know?", Yuno smiled.

"What a hindrance...", Mellistar echoed.

"Listen, I for a fact know there were days where you at least popped a fraction of a smile. So why all this? Is it because of-"

"So? One moment is enough to chance everything. It's like a battle. Bullets can fly, steel can clash. But it will take one shot or a single slash to end it all."

"You are impossible sometimes...", Yuno sighed.

"Alright, I grabbed a bite, back to work."

"Hell of a bite.", Yuno looked at the massive pile of empty food plates. " But no. You will sit here first and tell me exactly what you did last night."

"Can he not leave us alone on our training routine?", Mellistar scoffed.

"Fine. I did exactly what you'd expect me to do. Smacked dummies, defeated illusions and all that."

"There's a distinct...aura-", Yuno glared at the destroyed training ground.

"Don't even try to take the piss with all that god damn demon aura things again."

"Don't worry, I'm not. Instead...now that I have a higher sample of it, your powers do not resemble that of a demon at all! In fact..."

"I...'I'm glad' is what I'm supposed to say, isn't it?"

"Hmm? How so?"

"On one hand I am not what everyone suspected of me to be...you know. A being of death and destruction. But on the other hand...it's not like I really cared. So long as I could work it out for everyone else...", Lass looked at his hand.

"Huh...it's not like it'd matter anyway. The name of demons has been tainted by the malicious minority. Demons are indeed, other beings. Like you and me. They do have a tendency of...destroying, sure, but that doesn't mean that they're innately evil.

"That's...interesting. However it doesn't chance my stance on things. So...what can you get from my power?"

"Something damn near impossible. Traces of Dirunon..."

"Diru-non? Something about that name...feels familiar. What is it?", Lass asked curiously.

"A long gone kingdom. Dirunon was the midpoint of the entire Riza. Dead center at the middle of the world, it was inevitable for it to suffer the most major casualties when the God War first showed sparks. They said that the citizens of said kingdom suffered the most, as the attackers apparently had a genocide in place of their attack plan. The ones left over, simply escaped deep in the Frigo race's mountains in the frozen north.

"Is there a way I could...be from such a place?"

"Only if you're not born yet. Records are unclear for it's extinction as a kingdom but...well no one can pin-point the exact time it happened."

"What was exactly that race?"

"It was a sub-branch of dragons named Diru. They're essentially just humans with dragon features, such as horns and tails. Rumor has it they where the first to be created after Ikarisa's vision. But as of now it's widely believed that they're extinct."

"The Great War?"

"Yeap. Their last colony in the north was completely wiped off around 10, or so, years ago. No more records of them existing in this world, I haven't even felt their signature Obsulyte readings. Their genocide served as one of the major reasons for the peace treaty to come into place so...I guess we could count them as the unsung heroes in a way."

"Sounds sad...yet the name does sound familiar.", Lass laid back. "Maybe it's all just an omen..."

Laying back, it was easy for Yuno to realize that the amulet Lass was wearing had started to look different. Dim yet noticeable, a shine started to be emitted from the small rusted down jewel.

"Hmm...", Yuno reached to touch the artifact.

"Just no.", Lass pulled back.

"Oh shut it. I'm not gonna eat it, I want to take a look at it! Come on."

"Hmph. Fine.", Lass looked around. "One wrong move and I swear-"

"Don't worry. I know.", Yuno took the amulet off.

One swift look at the amulet in full glory, it was to Yuno's immense surprise to find out what he was actually dealing with...

"Holy...", Yuno chuckled. "Well then. It's really a surprise to even me. I was joking about it but...", he gave the amulet back to Lass.

"So? What did you find out?"

"I found what your thieving Wolven friend never could find, as there are no records aside from my tribe on this. It's not any amulet. It's the Kings Insignia. And you...well holy hell I didn't believe I would get to see one with my own two eyes. A Durandal!"

"God...dammit! What the hell did he do?!", Mellistar echoed.

"Gah! What the-! What did you do to me?!", Lass screamed as he grabbed his head.

""What?! I-I didn't do anything! Are you ok?!", Yuno tried to grab Lass

"My head! Dammit! Gyah!"

The moment such name was spoken a slew of sounds and images started flying through Lass's head. It was as if the life he never lived, was but all he could think and remember of. Shortly after he was fading into white, completely losing consciousness. Colored images, mirrored sounds, all distant yet familiar where all he could focus on, as during his time faded out, it was as if he was taken back.

"Here, here. Focus on this. I know you can hear it.", Yuno snapped his fingers.

"God...", Lass tried to get up.

"No, stay down. I knew the work fatigue would catch up to you at some point."

"No...it wasn't that."

"Whatever, so long as you're fine. It's getting late too..."

"What?! Dammit! An entire days work gone...I'm useless.", Lass said as he punched the ground.

"No, it just so happened that you went into a god damn shock! Stop with all this craze over this situation, it's doing you no good! For now you need to relax and recover, because tomorrow night it's going to be go time."

"Hmm...still here...", Lass grabbed his neck, feeling the amulet and calming down.

"What? You thought I'd scrap it? Anyway..."

"The...thing you said. That name it sounded so, so familiar. Like...too familiar. Am I supposed to be called 'Durandal'? Or at least was called at some point?

"No it's not a name. It's a title. The Kings Insignia is an amulet passed down for literal generations among generations in the Diruron tradition. Among the strongest of the Diru, this insignia is given to the absolute top. Commonly in the ranks of the Royal Paladin of the Goldenlances or leader of the Silverlance of the army. The person to be passed down upon, is said to be a knight above all others, who's golden shine will light the darkest of darkness, and whose gloss will never be touched by the erosion of time. And along with the insignia, came the title of the Durandal, the knight of the people, bringer of light, justice, hope, honor and glory. Said title sometimes used to replace the actual name of the person, it's like an official honorary thing of sorts.

"So could that mean that I'm a...did I..."

"Too early to assume a single thing. You are also lacking basic features for a Diru, and besides, after their extinction it's easy for someone not affiliated with Diruron to get his hands on this since there'd be no one to protect it anyway."

"Dammit...if only it'd be that easy...", Lass calmed himself down.

"Hmm? What exactly?"

"There's a thing you might not know, since I myself tried to forget. Something the old man told me when I was young. 'Once you start to notice the change of pace in your life, then you'll get your life back'. Not yet..."

"Maybe...that being said I'll tell you this. I tinkered a lot with this thing while you blacked out...and I now know what's wrong. It's not you emitting said aura. Well, partially. Most earie aura is emitted from the insignia itself. And there's no way it'd be from a spell or curse, because the degree of power that aura has, is insane. In short, something or someone is locked off inside that thing.

"Hmm...I see. Doesn't change my will to wear it."

"Why are you so obsessed with it anyway?"

"I...I don't know."

"Whatever. Don't press yourself any further for today. We will need it for the infiltration mission tomorrow. That being said, get some rest. Tomorrow I'll teach you the basics of summoning and manipulation of your power. So you'll need to be in top shape."

"Will I ever know...what the hell is going on?"

"Don't worry...one day we both will."

The night felt heavy, as the atmosphere got denser. And all but questions remained, as even more added themselves on the massive pile. But there was no time for answers. Now was the time to act...