I float from one foot to the next, just barely exerting any force as I speed down the dirt road. "Hold on, we need to take a detour here. As we get closer, they'll most likely have ambushes or scouts set up further ahead for reinforcements like us." Rainel mentions as we continue flying forward.

We skid to a dead stop, clouds of dirt retroactively blowing into our faces from the tailwind I was producing.

"I can fight. Some small groups of soldiers isn't a big deal especially with the three of us." Celestia says confused.

"War is a battle of information as much as it is weapons. I'd rather keep it under wraps that the strongest human in the world and a Tetsudo are coming to aid in defense." Rainel says as he steps off the path. "Come on, through these trees."

We follow him, walking through a dense cluster of vegetation and arrive at a small lake. "Isn't it best to get there as soon as possible rather than take these precautions?" I ask.

"This route also doubles as a shortcut as long as you don't mind the rugged path, I know this road, trust me." Rainel says before taking off full speed once again. Celestia and I glance at each other before we follow him.

I flinch as branches come close to whipping against my face, the path was rocky, uneven, and overgrown with vegetation as Rainel said.

This would be a lot easier with a wind sailer, just flying across the land above the clouds, I could get there in probably only 4 hours. Wait, maybe there are some at the southern capital if Fiao remembered the blueprints, being siblings it wouldn't be out of character for her to get the idea before me.

"Having a hard time? I could take the front." Celestia calls out from behind me.

"I'm fine but thanks." I respond curtly, I could brush all the debris and small branches aside with a pressurized pocket of air, it wouldn't make sense for either of them to take the front.

The three of us fall into silence once more.

"So... You guys excited? After being cooped up in that castle for so long this must feel refreshing right?" Celestia says...

"Mmh." Both Rainel and I grunt at the same time.

"... How about it, want to have a contest? See who can take down the most people when we get there?"

"Mmh." This time I grunt and Rainel doesn't respond at all.

"Alright, what do you wanna bet? A couple of Doons? Maybe the losers have to eat Yesenia's cooking? That overcooked but also raw chicken, you know she really turns the heat up way too high when she's at the stovetop, forgets to season or dumps way too much salt, man, does she even know that boiling things wash away the seasoning?"

Neither of us respond.

"Hey did you hear me?"

"I hate meaningless conversation, please stop." Rainel says annoyed.

"It's not meaningless! I mean her cooking is really damn bad, poor girl is trying to learn it all by herself rather than have a teacher. It's kinda cute."

Celestia looks at both of us. "What? Are you guys not interested? Especially you Cain, I'd thought you'd be more interested in her personal life." She runs up next to me.

Rainel sighs and looks at the mountains in the distance, trying his best to ignore the girl.

"Why would you think that?" I respond back.

"Come onnnnn, I know a young romance blooming when I see one, when are you going to confess?"

"..." I keep my head forward and think about her words.

"Yea, I think I do like her." I say monotonously.

"Oh really? You don't sound embarrassed though?" Celestia says.

I haven't been able to feel anything in months, which is what I wanted to respond with but... "There are more important things we have to deal with, I can't get bent out of shape for selfish reasons." I choose to respond with instead.

"Aww you little rascal..." Celestia tries to slap my back but gets hit by the recoil of my air pressure barrier. She then goes quiet.

"... You know, pretty unfair you get to float across the ground like that while we have to run like mad." She says softly.

"Oh no." I whisper to myself, her demeanor right now was very familiar, and it was not good.

"Boo!" Celestia grabs a handful of dirt and throws it at me. It bounces right off and straight into Rainel's eyes.

Rainel stumbles and slows down as he's forced to close his eyes. "Ah, what the fuck are you doing?!" He sputters and blinks rapidly.

The two of us slow down alongside Rainel.

"Feeling tired? You've been showing the signs of wear the last hour, we can rest if you want." Celestia says.

"What? No! Keep going, we can make it there before daybreak easy." The sun was beginning to set and the moon was rising, we've been traveling practically the entire day already.

"Easy for us, maybe not for you. Otherwise you probably would have been able to avoid the dirt, aren't I right?" Rainel gets the rest of the dirt out of his eyes and sighs. "Yes, you're right. I am a little tired, so you know what I'm doing?" He spreads his arms out sarcastically. "I'm pushing myself, I'm not a child complaining about having to exercise, I'm fine. Thank you for being concerned for my wellbeing though." He says that last part with a heavy layer of even more sarcasm. "Now let's get moving again." Rainel begins running again.

Celestia and I match his pace; however, Celestia begins holding her fingers to her chin.

"You know you're the one dragging the two of us down right?" She says the unspoken words straight up.

"I'm the only one who knows the route to the city, believe me, I'd rather travel by myself too." Rainel responds in kind.

"I mean... Isn't that the mountain of stars up ahead? Which means that the capital is just southwest of that correct?"

"Yes that's right... Why?" Rainel says confusingly.

"Then... I guess I'll see you two there." Celestia speeds past both of us before we have a chance to react.

"What the hell is her problem?!" Rainel exclaims.

I look back and forth from Rainel to Celestia rapidly fading in the distance. "May I?" I then ask politely.

"Yea, make sure she doesn't get lost." Rainel nods.

I lighten my body to the weight of paper, tearing forward with even more speed than she had shown.

Whoa! I whip my head to the side before it would slam into a tree branch. Luckily I won't get injured because of my light weight, but things were moving too fast for my regular human reactions to keep up. Not to mention, visibility was getting worse and worse as the sun set.

"Wait for us!" I shout at Celestia as I take her rear.

"... You said that you could make it to the southern capital before nightfall back at the castle." Celestia says listlessly ignoring me as she continues at her speed.

"What? I mean yea I think I could."

"Even me, I don't think I could do something like that...Wanna race up to the top of that mountain? If you beat me I'll go back."

I exhale deeply in annoyance. "Alright, if that's what it takes." I say, gathering Tetsu towards my feet. I've never really had a chance to go all out since my sister.

Then without a word.

A crack could be heard resonating across the land as both of us cross the sound barrier in a single step. My shoes get utterly blown off my feet exposing all my limbs to the outside air. The trees around us crack and get tossed in the air from the sheer wind pressure I was exuding.

With the first step, I fly into the air, barreling through any trees and obstacles that stood in my way, displaying a level of Tetsu intensity on par with Fiao's. One, Two, Three, Four, it was as if a demon took over my body. In less than five steps I manage to plant my feet the base of the mountain.

My head hurt, my nose was bleeding, all classic signs of mental fatigue, and for the first time in a while, I could feel where my mental limit now stood, and it was not even close to the level I was on previously.

What?... Happened to me?

This was just my mastery of wind. Before my wind was pitiful compared to Fiao, now...

I stare at the ground, suddenly becoming fearful of my power, my body, my own mind.

What if I go all out with my fire now? How many people could I kill at once?

As I'm distracted a figure zooms past me, leaving a trail of carnage straight up the mountain.

"Oh shit!" I lean down on all fours like a frog and blast into the ground, creating an intense updraft, uprooting the grass and trees around me.

I then orient my body parallel to the ground and do a wild and clumsy kick off the air, heading straight for the peak of the mountain.

Before I even have a chance to turn around and look I land on the ground, tumbling and rolling through the dirt, too disoriented to stabilize myself properly. Am I at the top? What happened? Where the hell am I? I cover my eyes as a branch nicks against my cheek drawing blood. Oh no, I may be immune to blunt force, but if I hit something sharp...

As the world spins around me, I feel two hands grasp my shoulders, lodging me down to a firm stop.

"Heh, and they call me crazy."

I slowly uncover and open my eyes to Celestia looking down at me from above. She pats my shoulders and backs away. I draw in breath, my eyes widen, for the first time in a while I felt something, the greatness of the world around me, it was an undeniable sense of awe.

The night sky expands before me, stars flecking every single corner of the sky, little pinions lighting up the ground, aglow with tiny little twinkles far off in another world. The sharp darkness contrasted beautifully with the multicolored stars, galaxies and clusters that seemed to merge together like a mist of light.

"You like it? There's a reason why it's called the mountain of the stars." Celestia lies down next to me and quietly looks up as well. "You can see everything from up here."

...

"Say, why are you so competitive all the time? You've got nothing to prove. Everyone already knows you're the strongest person in the world." I ask her causing her to hesitate.

"Before... I think I was insecure about my position as the strongest, that's why I tried to find as many people to challenge as possible."

I listen to her, her usual smug sarcastic tone was nowhere to be heard.

"But now, I don't know if I'm actually the strongest." She says with full sincerity.

"That's... unexpected of you to say."

"I mean, what really determines strength you know? The Rift could be considered 'stronger' than me, no one has ever defeated old age, a stab to the back is stronger than me, there are probably Tetsudo out there on the other side stronger than me, the masked people are definitely stronger than I am, an army of well trained soldiers could kill me, hell, even two decently strong fighters with a sneaky plan could beat me down.”

Celestia reaches out to the sky, her hand grasping at the stars. “So all I gotta do is keep climbing, keep going and going and going until I finally reach the peak of my own mountain, wherever that is, and then… I’ll gaze at the stars.”

The two of us share a quiet moment together, she then looks to the side and smiles. “Made me pour my heart out, you sure you don’t love me too?” She goes back to her old teasing self.

“Un huh, sounds like you just wanted someone to vent to and everyone else was too scared or annoyed of you.” I say with a grin on my face.

“That’s true, I am pretty scary and annoying.” Celestia hops of the ground back on her feet, not bothering to dust off her clothes. She lends me her hand which I grab and get up as well.

“If you ever want to talk to someone, just know that I’m open.” She grasps my hand firmly. This girl, Celestia, she’s always smiling for one reason or another, but for some reason… I look back in her eyes. This smile feels a lot more real than the others.

“Now, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but, Rainel is shouting at us pretty loudly right now, dunno if you can hear him.” Celestia lets go of my hand and looks out to the forest down below.

“Oh right. Why we ran up this mountain in the first place.” I look down below to see a tiny figure in the distance rapidly approaching the base.

“And you won, so I guess I have to go back.”

“But you got here first?”

“And if you didn’t stare off into space when you reached the base of the mountain, you would have gotten here first, I’m being honorable yea?” Celestia sticks her tongue out at me as she drops off the side of the mountain.

“Right… That also happened.” I suddenly become a lot less happy remembering the strange boost in ability. Ordinarily anybody would be happy suddenly becoming a lot more powerful overnight, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was coming at the cost of something dear.

“What the hell happened between the battle with Fiao and when Stronl arrived to the camp?” I murmur to myself as I drop off the cliff as well. I know something happened, but it was a fuzzy memory that I couldn’t quite recall.