“Kyrion. What was that? You got lucky but… Are you ok?”

Kyrion held his hand over his prosthetic eye for a moment and removed it. His green eye held a swirling red vortex in its center.

“I see now. Fire affinity and the ability to sense demons. Very few know he had a fire affinity as it wasn’t used often. But that is now clearly your grandfather’s eye.”

“Demons summoning demons. I thought they were called something else?”

“Alir’mondri come from the moon or other worlds above. Demons live in the abyss, a demon lord slaying demons. My character is contradicting itself.”

“Well it didn’t submit.”

“And I’m under surveillance, great. Well I’m headed to the lake to relax. Feel free so let my princess know where I am.”

“You're not going to watch Ander or Minah fight?”

“I don’t like watching my friends fight like this and it would be bad for morale if I cheer for Nicole. While it's bad for my health if I cheer for Minah.”

“Avoiding both death routes. Good luck Kyrion.” Cecil headed back to the waiting room, his expression stony.

“Headmaster… My body moved on its own without hesitation as though It wanted to kill whoever attacked my friend. I think I got lucky that it was a demon. I'll be doing some meditation exercises. This is weird.”

“Have you tried asking Karl what the composition is for your, what was it the kids say? Chill personality?”

“Thanks headmaster.”

As to be expected Ander knocked out his opponent with an ease that at that point surprised no one. It became clear that the students at Drisil were strong this year. That was when the final battle of the day was scheduled to begin.

“For the last fight of the day we have a battle between Minah of team Drisil, and a princess of flame from Norn… Ready. Fight.” Meh Thod was exhausted after announcing the entire day that if he was lucky Drisil would win again and he could retire to his room. Sadly for him, this fight was not going to be fast.

Nicole stood in front of her opponent with a small book at her hip.“Come Cerberus, keeper of the underworld.”

A three-headed dog appeared right next to Nicole standing a solid eight and a half feet tall with its claws and teeth coated in fire.

“Activate C gear, monster slaying equipment.” Minah’s base form was soon covered by a golden suit of power armor that hid her physical form while boosting her capabilities. Wheels on the bottom of her boots allowed for accelerated movement and special pistons in her gauntlets could be used to augment her striking power exponentially.

Nicole eyed her opponent with contempt and sent her dog forward.

Minah decided that Nicole was probably a summoner and therefore not a real threat when attacked directly.

The blow aimed at Nicole's head seemingly passed through her.

Nicole thrust forward with a sword made of purple flames and hit Minah in the stomach.

Her armor took most of the damage but Minah was still too preoccupied to notice the three-headed dog-like beast behind her.

Two of its heads clamped down on Minah’s shoulders, keeping her from moving.

“Surrender. Now. I don’t want to hurt his Kyr’s friends.” Nicole said with an irritated expression.

“Like hell!” Minah struggled before sensing the telltale signs of fire mana building up.

“How unfortunate.” Nicole took quite a few steps back before snapping her fingers.

The fireball exploded and the area was covered in smoke.

Nicole fell to her knees gasping for air. ”No.”

Minah walked out of the fire and her golden armor was unmarred by flame and bites.

“When is an opponent at their most vulnerable?” Minah asked.

The smoke cleared revealing the three-headed dog. Blades had gone through the eyes of each of the creature's six eyes.

“When they think they’ve won. Eruption.” She whispered.

The earth in front of her shot upward and outward.

Minah moved back to dodge the blast.

A serpent of flame shot out of the ground and slithered after her.

Minah switched her stance and drew a shortsword. Decapitating the spell proved useless as it didn’t need to move.

But the contact allowed her to stop it in its tracks and dodge to the side.

Drawing a dagger from her hip with her off-hand she tossed it at Nicole who seemed to dodge it by the skin of her teeth. Countering with a fireball lobed at her.

Minah jumped back to dodge yet the explosive blast from the fireball knocked her off balance and sent her back ten feet.

The snarl of a beast was the only warning she got that her forgotten foe was still capable of moving.

This time however she was ready, plunging her shortsword into its heart, plunging it straight through the creature. This was followed by a blast of compressed air that sent it out of the ring.

Minah watched to make sure that the creature was gone this time. Its body exploding in a burst of mana. Sadly she had broken the most important rule of combat. She took her eyes off of a crafty opponent.

“You did good. But we’re both holding back so as not to reveal our powers. This is a game of tactics and you have lost this round.” Nicole whispered.

As she spoke a blade of flame pierced through the neck of Minah’s armor gently triggering the evacuation wards.

“And the winning streak of Drisil has come to an end! And in a rather explosive battle!”

The two girls met up soon after the battle to discuss their previous captain.

“Listen. Can you do me a favor?”

“What?”

“I suspect that Kyrion may still be alive. Can’t tell you where as I haven’t seen him in months. But the person in the next round is my younger brother.”

“You want me to go easy on him?”

“No. Actually the opposite. I want you to rip him a new one in my stead. He’s a misogynistic ass, if he rubs you the wrong way don’t hold back. Or if you do, don’t let him win.”

“I’ll consider it. Where do you think your old captain is?”

“Somewhere close by. I suspect the headmaster is the only one with the exact location. Keep this a secret though. I’m sure those who tried to kill him last time are still out there.” Minah whispered conspiratorially. Feeding her the lie that the headmaster came up with.

Kyrion meditated on a lake in his natural form, his body well hidden in a grotto that the forest would actively fight against.

Kyrie sat in a similar position in his mind. Both were looking within themselves.

“Why does it feel like my innards are always burning? Like there is this well of rage within myself fighting to get free.”

“There is a portion of your memories that are barred from my prying. Could it be that something is buried there?”

“Possibly.” Kyrion called for Karl.

Karl appeared in the mental world next to Kyrie. “Ah yes, master Kyrion. What is it you need?”

“Seems there is a lock on my memories. I don’t understand why and it seems I need it removed. Can you accomplish that?”

“Yes. Although I do require something from you. We need to build a dungeon here. Doing so now will allow me to gain in power due to its proximity to the planet's mana Nexus.”

“Will this help with unlocking those memories?”

“Not directly. But I’ve figured out the runes that let people stretch time. If I’m right then chances are we'll have all the time you want for self betterment. Although staying too long can cause you to age more than you want if you aren’t careful.”

“So I have to do this. How does dungeon building work?”

“Well given your space affinity? Chances are that it will be partly in this world. You need to start by tunneling underground. Then build the core chamber. Shouldn’t take you long. After that, place that staff you used to favor in the center. It already has a fire affinity inside of it. From there I will take over construction. Your job from there is to bring monsters materials and any items you want broken down and replicated. I’ve been doing that for years. ”

“Is that why my favorite bed is now heart shaped?”

“It was Issac’s idea to modify it. I could not replicate it however. I don’t have the materials or the knowledge to craft it.” Karl stated.

“Yeah… Cecil keeps some of his secrets to himself. Especially when he discovered your ability to replicate anything he gave me.”

“Oh. No I can now. The secret was fire. Now that I have access to fire I can make the special compound.”

“Uh huh.”Kyrion squinted as he didn’t buy what Karl was selling.

“Just like I can now mess with time. Affinities are like paint, with the right mixture of colors any can be made. As a dungeon, things like complex and impossible for humans to do are simple for me.”

“So I can use any affinity.”

“Everyone can, technically, some are just harder to touch. My powers work differently than yours. But we can work together.”

Kyrion nodded. “I’ll get to that then.”

Kyrion pulled out a shovel and moved toward what he sensed as an empty place. From there he began the long process of shoveling. Supplementing some physical exertion with magic to speed it up. Still, he wouldn’t be there to congratulate his teammates today.

He didn’t deserve to be there for the celebration in his own opinion. He also didn’t have the mentality to deal with them today. He didn’t trust himself, the time he spent with Sigfried helped but hadn’t been enough to fix the problem so quickly. His rage came from somewhere deep, like a geyser that had been building up for so long.

Anger towards his parents, who hid things from him. Anger towards his enemies for making his life harder than it needed to be. Anger at that lizard that took his mentor, his friend, away from him. Anger towards the world itself for a reason he didn’t understand. Anger towards Psycho for not telling him everything. Anger towards himself for not seeing the writing on the wall.

Had he shown the signs near Exac, his professor would have labeled this as a phase caused by increased testosterone due to growth. A common occurrence given his age and completely healthy. Kyrion did not enjoy this phase of his life. The angst itself would make him cringe when looked back on. Sadly hindsight is useless to dwell on but important to learn from.

A large dinner had been arranged by the headmaster. As today had been wildly successful. Three out of four wins were good, and given the nature of these victories, it was quite obvious that they were from their training.

Minah looked at the pasta in front of her with a blank expression. “I’m not hungry.”

“More for me.” Ander, who had been sitting next to her, took her plate and dumped it on his.

“Hey!” Minah protested.

“You just said you weren't going to eat. I need all the nutrition I can to get my height back.” Ander pointed his chopsticks at Minah.

“You're an idiot.” Minah sighed.

“Say what you mean then. I’m not a mind reader.” Ander sighed.

“You are a bad boyfriend.” Minah said with narrowed eyes.

“I am not your boyfriend?” Ander was confused

“And you wonder why?” Minah shook her head.

Brion looked down at his friend. “Trouble in paradise?”

Ander looked at Brion in confusion. Missing the fact that Miinah had taken the spice tray and begun mixing it into his food at high speed while he was distracted.

“I don’t know what this paradise is but I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything to cause trouble there.”

“Why are you using chopsticks anyway?”

“Ah right. When I was shopping with Cecil he informed me that using these utensils were a method of training dexterity. The shopkeeper also agreed that it was as well so it must be true.” Ander clicked his sticks together like tweezers. One of them falling from his grasp.

“Well. Not going to gain any height speaking.” Brion shook his head.

Ander retrieved his chopsticks and proceeded to eat the spiced concoction with odd ease. Not even reacting to the spices added to the food. Going so far as to take another spice tray and dump it onto his plate before taking two different types of sauces and covering the food with them. Much to the disgust of everyone present save Bastion, who didn’t know any better, and Lin, who hadn’t been paying attention.

“Sigfried. Have you met a demon?” Lin asked her bodyguard.

“Yes. Forty or so years ago during a previous incursion there were quite a few that had come to our world, along with dragons that had been corrupted by the chaos from that place.”

The headmaster looked up. “Right. That was back when I was at peak practitioner. The golden years.”

“...” His students stared at him for a long moment silently.

“Right. Are demons evil?” Lin asked.

“Yes and no. They are chaotic entities from the abyss. Some beings from there aren’t evil. But it is in their nature to corrupt and distort what one could see as positive traits. Ambition could become an obsession. A love for food, gluttony. The drive to grow stronger, greed. The desire to protect friends' wrath when triggered.”

“That's troubling.”

“It is. This tournament’s just begun. Using powers from the Abyss aren’t banned. But possessions are grounds for disqualification.”