Franky delivered was blown off his feet while Alpha struck once again. A massive explosion scalded only the spiritual power coating Elena's skin. It was the first display of her having to guard herself to not receive damage. Within the days gone by both Alpha and Franky had grown much stronger. Though their strength only lies in the new knowledge they've received over the past week, it has essentially tripled. However, that alone wasn't enough. Elena had about five years of deadly trial and error that allows her to thrive despite her being a rather weak Dream Catcher. This time she was a lot more refined when it came to handling her disciples: Instead of gutting people like she did with Franky, she simply tied them down with threads and flung them into the air.

"Let's take a break for now! I should give you proper weapons before I let you fight me again", she said. Believing it necessary to at least give them something of value until they can properly manifest their very own weapons, she manifested a bottle of pills, a sniper rifle that Alpha can't use yet, and a sword that Franky happily declined. The sniper rifle will work as soon as Alpha's mastery over channelling light magic improves. The weapon Franky declined was pitch black longsword that had mystical properties.

"Why not? There's nothing wrong with it," she claimed.

Franky simply can't trust her and the weapon itself gave off a nasty feeling almost as if it was rejecting him. Ignoring her, Alpha wondered why Franky was so hostile to Elena. Franky always upheld a fake cheerful persona whenever he's around classmates. Since, even if he's rather rude, he's being himself, Alpha paid it no mind for now.

Alpha asked, "How about one more round?"

"Sure… But you have to take this first." She handed the two of them two ribbon bands that wrapped around their arms. These two are simple support items meant for fighting Demons and will come in handy some day.

With the sniper strapped to his back, Elena restarted their routine. The first round consisted of just puliing punches and trying to hit her. She'll either move on to phase 2 after one minute or move on to phase 2 after being hit by one of them.

Franky tried striking her head on to make way for Alpha. Him striking her in the ribs from the front while Alpha prepares for striking her from the back was futile. Her torso turned to threads. Those threads would dodge whenever they came close to punching. Even a barrage of rapid punches had no effect. Not one strike actually hit her as her control over her own body was great enough to dodge any strike. Hyperion quietly observed from afar trying to find a weakspot. Elena disappeared while he was staring her down.

She reappeared behind him and kicked him just to watch him tumble over. It was her way of telling them that the enemy too is watching. Obviously an enemy wouldn't just wait until the observant has identified their weakness. They'd also want to take out the most troublesome person among the team, which often is the leader or the sniper.

"Time for Phase 2!"

Elena watched King pull his blade and go straight for the first attack. A thread clashed with his blade. The point of this phase is to catch her offguard and hit her. Rushing straight past her to grab Alpha by the collar and throw him into the air, he failed to deliver any blows. His attacks are still rather unrefined as mastery in swordsmanship can't be taught in a week. Phase 2 consists of them using their weapons. Since Alpha's weapon is one that can enlarge and elongate, he threw it at her feet and then let it enlarge. Its maximum size seems to lie at ten meters in length with the largest ring at three meters. The staff part itself can elongate to 100 meters at incredible speeds.

Elena jumped into the air yet restricted herself from using magic to make this battle a fair one. With punches and kicks, she can propel herself off air and fly out of the way. While both Alpha and Franky had attempted to do something like this before, they didn't get quite far as they weren't good enough at maneuvering.

Franky threw one of his longswords in hopes of hitting Elena midair. He came close but missed. His friend used his magical weapon maneuvering it around Elena as he keeps failing to hit her. Even now he's just trying to observe and learn. Since he knows that he can't hit her, Alpha kept observing her.

"She tends to fly off to her right when cornered," he thought. With several more attacks he could confirm his theory and think of more ways to put together an attack plan for another day unaware of the fact that he'll never get to use them at this rate.

With the passage of five minutes, Elena moved on to Stage Three. All of them can now use everything they have at their exposal. Now that he can use magic as he pleases, Alpha went on a hunt and held on his divine key. With great speed he chased after Elena up into the skies. Therein they dodged each others attacks and retaliated whenever they can. Explosions and cuts through the air made for a great amount of noise as Franky helplessly watched on.

Franky recalled what the two of the had talked about the day before. SInce they had known that another sparring session would come today, the two of them talked about ways to hit Elena at least once. The only thing he had to do was throw both of his longswords into the air and watch.

Hyperion watched the two swords ascend and threw his divine key like a spear. Then, with enough focus and willpower expended on forming three orbs of light magic, he threw them at the longswords and his divine key. The explosions following right after created a massive smokescreen blocking everyone's view.

Elena tapped Franky on the shoulder as Alpha fell out of the skies.

"I'm sorry but maybe you'll get that first hit some other day. Let's call it a day, okay?"

"We really should hang out more… But I guess I can be rather boring at times. Whenever I go on a rant it's probably rather hard to follow what I'm talking about, right?"

"No. Let's just hang out," answered Franky.

The two of them are spending the rest of that day out on a stroll simply venturing out into the city. Since Elena had aquainted Alpha with a new café he could waste his money on. Since the savings he originally was going to use on running away from home are not needed any longer, he can spend it all on just eating as much as he wants.

"You really love eating sugary things. Don't you ever get sick of them?", asked Franky.

"Not really."

Patiently drinking his coffee as Alpha devoured a bowl full of ice cream, he watched his friend with joy. As long as his friend is happy, he's happy. The only thing that worries him is the amount. Since hours are spent on training and the two of them also spending their evenings jogging or running, he won't have to worry too much about Alpha gaining weight. An occasionally upset stomach is all there is to worry about.

"Hey, Alpha?"

"Hm?"

"We should go jogging together… It sounds like fun, right?", asked Franky. He simply wishes to spend more time with his only true friend.

"Sure! It's fine with me!"

Though they spent most of their time in silence, the two of them were happy and full of joy. Finished with their short and refreshing snacktime, they decided to walk further. Alpha desperately wanted to show Franky something that he had discovered a couple days ago while on his way to training.

Their way lead to a small, old, and abandoned candy shop. Simply forcing the door open, Alpha waltzed right in. Within were empty shelves that were full of dust and dead bugs. The detail that stood out the most were the dried bloodspatters in the back and the lone knife, the supposed murder weapon. Behind the counter was a door that Alpha gleefully approached while Franky remained vigilant. Transforming as he grasped the doorknob, he readied himself for any potential confrontation. Franky too transformed and was about ready to draw his blade.

Within that room was a world of wonders lying within the abyss. A lone floating island that perfectly imitated a village hid behind this door. A bridge as wide as the doorframe allowed for passage to the island.

"Let's go!" Alpha invited Franky on a little cruise down this ghost village.

The gray bridge was illuminated by neon blue fireflies. Following this path they finally entered the village. Alpha pranced down the one road within this village, down a dirt road. At the end of this dirt road was one lone Devil Seed powering this entire domain. Franky drew his blade but was stopped by Hyperion.

"Don't. They're peaceful and live here as a cute little community of Demons and spirits…"

Out of one of the houses came a Demon consisting of a jumbled mess of white arms and legs. Several crystals dug into it, its Devil Seeds, indicated that this was a Fusion. With it was a small see-through child whose eyes was covered by hair. The malnourished boy hid behind the Demon as it spotted King's blade.

"But it's a Demon!"

King approached the Demon with his longsword ignoring Hyperion's suggestion. However, The Demon itself refused to attack and simply sought to protect the boy. As such, Franky saw no need to slay the Demon. Several more doors opened letting more hideous beings leave their living quarters. They all cowered in fear as they were well aware of Dream Catchers hunting them. As such, Franky sought to leave not greeting one of them. Hyperion followed as he transformed back into Alpha.

"Don't show this to anyone else!", ordered Franky. "The other Dream Catchers in this area likely aren't as understanding as you are."

"That's not all! I also have my very own domain to show you!", joyfully exclaimed Alpha.

A ball of light pulsing in all the colors of the rainbow devoured the two of them and let them vanish. Reappearing within Alpha's domain, the light that enveloped them faded away. A little exhausted and rather sluggish, he walked a little further. The two were on top of a massive structure also known as a skyscraper. This behemoth reigned over this island with a size of four kilometers in height and one kilometer in width. Transforming once again took a little more out of him. Standing right at the edge of this massive building, he took a look at everything around him. Though Franky could see it not, he could gaze upon the crystal dome that separated them from the stars.

"Amazing, right!"

"You've been a Dream Catcher for 3½ weeks and already accomplished something like this while I barely can infuse myself in spiritual power… I can't believe a domain can be as complex as this world!", said Franky. Though he is a little bitter and sad because he can't protect Alpha, he's also happy that Alpha is getting so much stronger.

Stepping towards the edge, Alpha transformed back as he passed out and began his descent. Franky panicked and jumped right after his friend who is perfectly fine and holding onto his divine key to keep himself afloat. Grinning, he watched Franky fall.

Since he had plenty of time to put his eyes on this world, he started inspecting whatever he could spot. The first thing that stood out were two skyscrapers similar to the one he was standing on a minute ago. Relaxing after what seems to have been an eternity of stressing out, he believes that from here on out his life will get much better. It made him think of the people around him.

"Ben has always been so nice and understanding…"

Ben and Franky lived together in a house bought by Franky's parents. His parents were absent because they never cared about him. His father was a snobby man-child who had grown up privileged enough to simply inherit the company of Franky's grandparents. His mother was a woman that loved his father for his money and a massive narcissist that believed she had every right to abandon her son. After purposefully baby trapping her husband to take his money, she gave birth to Franky. No one knew of her son which means that she could get away with throwing money at every problem of his.

Everyone that knew of the amount of money he had available to him would either try to leech off him through superficial relationships or by bullying him enough that he would retaliate. No one knew who his parents are and they frankly didn't care.

The only one that would try to understand Franky was Ben. Ben was kind, caring, and understanding. Though he once was a rebellious loudmouth that constantly got in trouble, he's now the perfect caretaker that treats Franky like a little brother. At the age of sixteen, Ben moved in with the twelve-year-old Franky. Arranging a deal with his parents and the people that abandoned Franky, the pair moved in together.

"I have to tell him… I at least owe him that, right?"

"What about her though? Would she allow it or simply let me tell him so that Ben too can get involved?"

Elena was an enigma that Franky couldn't figure out. She didn't seem like the type of person to specifically target him for no reason. Though she talked as if she wanted to torture him, he never felt like she was a threat to him. He doesn't believe her to be sadistic enough to train him only to kill him right after within a battle she deems satisfying enough.

"Prometheia… Her and Elena seem close and Prometheia herself seems nice. I still can't figure out what her deal is though."

Hellfire also was rather interesting. Always talking as if he is full of energy and happier than anyone else, it was clear that he was hiding something. Being the senior that was ordered to get him to Elena, Hellfire was the first Dream Catcher Franky ever got in contact with.

"But this is all for Ben and Alpha. Alpha saw through me quite early and what would I even do without him? I have to thank him someday… If it were not for him…"

Finally, after so long, he's near the ground and escaped his thoughts. Grabbing a lone metal pole on his way down, he inspected the area around him. It led down surrounded by a row of houses. Before he could take a closer look at Alpha's domain, the entire domain collapsed and dissipated into thin air.

"I'm sorry for not being able to uphold… I wanted to show you some more!", said Alpha as he collapsed within the candy shop.