Kyrion and Cecil had spent their free time efficiently while increasing the quality of life in the capital, and within a month, the two had had enough coin to stay in the dilation chambers for a year.

Through time and dedication, he had managed to get a

negligible hold of his volatile emotions. He had figured out how to keep his body in its normal state of calm, fully aware that if he got angry, it would take a while to reassert control. as he came to terms with the fact that Psycho kept him from running rampant.

Kyrion’s control over fire increased dramatically over the four months of training, and he was even trained in swordplay by Kyrie and Sigfried when they were available. Overall, Kyrion’s ability to push himself past exhaustion and beyond proved useful in maximizing his growth time.

All good things came to an end, and as it turned out. His team had arrived at the capital, and it was time to introduce them to Rion. Still, he was quite surprised when his team arrived. All of them had gotten much stronger. But not enough to close the gap he had created through his training.

Popping his knuckles, Kyrion looked at his allies with an irritated glare. “Captain Rion is here, but he is surprised, you all are still weak, not even fit to ride my coattails. Well that is fine given I, Rion had more time to get ahead.”

“Captain Rion. I assume you’ve gotten stronger during your time away.” Tiffany eyed Kyrion closely.

Kyrion handed everyone except Bastion a key and looked over his group. If they wanted to put on a good show and bring glory to the school. Then they would do so. Sadly he was determined to win. And to win, he couldn’t do that alone, hence why he wasn’t entering the solo battles.

Despite the idiocy that appeared on the surface, there were perks. In the solo tournament, when a captain is defeated, the school that beats them gets an extra ten points, while the captain’s team loses twenty. He had more to gain from letting the others fight it out than get involved and potentially lose. Kyrion knew he wasn’t invincible. He could lose if he tried to fight while hiding his abilities. Which is why he wasn’t going to risk it. Nothing to gain, and everything to lose is a stupid gamble. Some captains would be foolish enough to enter regardless.

“Who are you anyway? Where’s the captain?” Minah approached Rion clearly in a defensive stance.

“Look at me. I’m the captain now.” Kyrion’s eyes shifted back to green for a brief moment before returning to their unnatural vermillion hue.

“Cecil?” Bella looked at her friend, who just shook his head in the leave it alone motion.

“I thought you had an eyepatch.” Minah asked.

“Rion never wore an eyepatch and does not know what you’re referring to.” Krion said with a blank expression.

Minah leaned into him, getting a close look as though trying to get something out of him.

“No change.” Tiffany said as she looked at a pendant that seemingly had turned white and marked Kyrion as worried.

“How do you feel about a fight then?” Minah took a step back.

“Rion doesn’t turn down a challenge. However this isn’t the time or the place.”

“Oi!” A flippant person butted into their peaceful conversation, their expensive clothing marking them as either a noble or a wealthy merchant that didn’t know where to buy clothes. Midas, led by a figure in bronze armor, approached Kyrion’s group.

Rion’s face crooked up into a shark’s smile, like a predator who just had food wander into their lair. This seemingly terrified Bastion and caused Max to take a step back.

“Is this your new lover Minah? Is that how you made the team with your strength?” Mida’s moved to approach his hal

“T.P! I can’t believe you made it right on time.” Rion walked casually over to Midas as though they were well acquainted and slowly reached to place a hand on their shoulder.

“Get your filthy presence away from me, commoner.” Midas instinctively tried to jump back. Only the hand on his shoulder was much faster and anchored him to the ground.

Kyrion sighed. “I get that you’re dumb, but talking like that only gets me fired up. Sadly I was never one for patience and forgiveness. This will be your only warning.” The temperature rose quite a bit between Rion and Midas.

The temperature began to rise further, and headmaster Caeden subtly erected a wall of mana between Kyrion and the other students just in case they happened to be in the splash zone.

“What’s T.P. stand for?” Bastion asked, unperturbed.

“Toilet paper,” said Cecil.

“Toilet paper,” answered Minah.

“Target practice.” Answered Tiffany as she created a barrier behind the previous one, just in case.

Cecil and Minah watched as Tiffany was proven right.

“Bruning Surprise Punch!” Kyrion punched his sternum so hard that everyone present heard the crack. But that wasn’t the end as he moved his body into the attack, amplifying the force exponentially as white flames surrounded them both. The pest was sent barreling out of the city by a torrent of flame, a few concentrated balls of wind mana releasing compressed oxygen to create explosions of flame in the sky above that showed no intention of slowing anytime soon. Even as most lost the ability to keep track of him.

“You didn’t have to defend me that hard.” Minah reddened.

“Hmmmm…? No, this is a demonstration of my power. I’m not done yet. I’ll be back sooner or later.”

“What?”

Kyrion smirked as he vanished into a puff of smoke.

“Ah. This. This is teleportation. I get the joke.” The headmaster said.

“How is it a surprise when he just punched him?” Bella asked.

“By mixing his fire affinity with space affinity he can link himself to any of his flames. You could see that the fire was burning even after he left sight, right?” The headmaster pointed.

“How did he get a fire affinity? That is too many.” Ander complained as his eyes turned into cat-like slits, and his battle lust could be outwardly observed.

“You’re just mad that your previous strategy for beating him just crumbled. Along with mine. Gives troll regeneration, proceeds to master its main counter in secret.” Brion stated.

“He just punched that guy into the horizon and you want to go fight him?” Max turned his head to look.

“Of course.” Ander said.

“Yup. You should get something with fire resistance in your arsenal. For practical reasons.” Brion added.

“Mmmmhmmm… I’ll see to that. So many people use fire after all.” Ander stated.

Kyrion appeared right in front of Midas, quite an unreasonable distance above the ground. He casually wrapped a hand around the prince’s face.

“Do you know who I am?” Midas said as pain filled him.

“Do. You. Think. I. Care? A disaster doesn’t stop just because you’re standing in its path.”

“I’m the prince of Etervonia. You bloody bastard!”

“You aren’t in Etervonia. You are a nobody here, and if you want to function in my presence, keep your mouth shut. Say anything and I mean anything, and nothing short of divine intervention might be able to inconvenience me. Nod if you understand.” Rion let go, and the two continued to fly a bit longer.

Midas hadn’t been scared of anything before. He hadn’t known his own mortality before, raised to be the future king of his land. He wouldn’t allow himself to go down like this.

A golden sword appeared in his left hand as his right gripped the arm holding his face for all its worth. Moments later, he stabbed Kyrion’s chest toward where his heart should be.

“Go to hell!”

The blade shattered before melting into slag and burning the owner.

“That’s three words. You really don’t understand your position here. Let me give you a taste then, the first ones on me. Demon’s Decent!” Kyrion kicked off an air platform as he brought the two of them down near a river. Midas went head first. The only thing keeping Midas alive was the mana Kyion used to blunt the damage.

Midas looked up as he was surrounded by a pillar of flame, his body slowly roasting, his hair burning, and his skin starting to blister before everything ended.

The temperature dropped suddenly as Lin appeared in front of Rion. Next to her was a blue-haired man and a short red-haired girl who didn’t seem surprised.

“He’s…” Midas began to speak again before stopping as Kyion brushed his fingers across the young man’s throat before knocking him out.

“You were warned idiot.” Kyrion stood.

“You know you can’t kill him right?” Lin stated.

“No. I can’t, but he started it. Mostly.” Kyrion looked away.

“Fights before the tournament aren’t forbidden but killing is. Even if they deserve it.” Lin seemed sad about that fact.

“Did he?”

“I know of his rather derisive choice of words. And unbecoming actions. I’d have let you continue had it not ended in getting expelled from the tournament.”

“I wasn’t going to kill him. I don’t kill people.” Kyrion seemed aghast.

“Not directly. You did cause that guy’s death.” Asela added.

“He was possessed by a parasite. Also, it was their own fault.”

“You didn’t know that then. Not like it mattered. When did you get fire?”

Kyrion clicked his tongue. “I was thinking that would be kept secret from you longer.”

“Kyrion…Do you really think you can change your face and think that I wouldn’t recognize your shenanigans? You should know that your nature makes you impossible to miss when you aren’t trying to hide.” Asela lied.

Charles shook his head. “Chester told her.”

“Charles!”

“That makes more sense. How does his power work? I know it’s order based, but that’s it. I can sense his gaze at times.”

“I won’t divulge that. But there is a main reason for seeing you here.” Charles moved on.

“Ah right. Avoid interacting with Nicole as much as you can. She isn’t quite right at the moment.” Asela warned.

“You shouldn’t reveal yourself until either after the tournament or after Norn has been eliminated.” Charles added.

“Why is that?” Lin squinted.

“Three reasons. I’d rather you not end up kidnapped by one of my students, and locked away like a princess in a dragon tortoise’s castle. Second, I’d rather the enemy not know who you really are. Thirdly, it allows us to keep group cohesion.”

“Kidnap? That’s a bit odd for friends.” Lin looked at Kyrion.

Kyrion looked at Midas.

Midas looked at nothing as if he was unconscious.

“Just friends, we were like brothers a while back. I want nothing more to do with her than that. It would be like trying to be more than siblings with Asela. That’s just weird.”

“And her feelings? Does she know?”

“I’ve hinted at it. But no. I haven’t given her a flat, no, due to circumstances.”

“The force faking his death being the main one..” Charles explained.

“I am a different person now. Not sure she’d like who I’ve become.” Kyrion looked down before looking at Lin.

“You should wear a mask and hood. I’d rather you not be a target. She’s already convinced herself that Minah is a potential rival.” Asela told Lin.

“How does she know Minah?” Kyrion squinted.

“We left them behind when we learned what you were doing.”

“Oh. So she’s insane.”

“Deranged…” Asela nodded.

“Why bring her then?”

“She’s also very strong.” Kyrion added.

Lin shook her head. “Right fighting tournament. Not a battle of morals or ethics.”

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Now let’s split.” Kyrion snapped his fingers and disappeared. Leaving the unconscious Midas with the others.

Bastion had decided that girls were scary. He looked at Minah and Nicole and watched as they seemed to fight without coming to blows. The intense glares they gave each other could chill an active volcano.

Bastion pulled Brion’s pants leg and then pointed to Cecil. “Ask him to take us to that place.”

“What place?”

“The training place. I can sense it, he’s much older now. Feels like time has shifted.” Bastion shook his head.

“You’re correct. Headmaster, if it’s fine with you, may I take them to the training area we’ve rented out.” Cecil asked the headmaster before giving Bastion an inquisitive look.

“So you found the training chambers? So quickly too?”

“Kyrion did, apparently. Made friends with the locals and goes out to bring ingredients to their restaurant daily.”

“He would run into him first. I swear, sometimes I wonder if he’s some sort of vessel sent by the gods to mess with me.”

“He was supposed to be my sword spirits wielder before Max came along.” Brion stated.

“Yes, but it was the holy sword of purification. It requires one to have all four primary affinities. On top of a strong life affinity. They knew this would happen… How far does this scheme go, Lok.”

Bastion decided to ignore that as he led the party in the wrong direction as though he knew where he was going.

Brion eventually picked him up, and they left the girls to their staring contest.