The Guild of Medics appeared in their coalition of chariots, and as their forces gently touched down over the melting snow around the fallen trees, Lera pressed herself up when a single medic approached and scanned her body. "You seem...good to go." He said after viewing the feedback from the medical Cast, his voice uncertain. Though just because all of the previous fights ended with the loser or both fighters being severely injured in the final clash doesn't mean that this battle has to end this way. "Lera!" Yuna said, shoving aside the medics that surrounded her before she stomped her way through the snow towards Lera. The guards that came with the Guild of Medics immediately moved, as part of their duties are to ensure what happens within the match stays there. However, before they could stop her, Yuna halted her progress and reached out her hand, "What the hell was that Cast? I couldn't even move in there!" "Does it really matter?" Lera said, sighing and shaking her head, "You still broke out of it..." "I only did because I remembered something that I once threw away." Yuna said, thinking back to the teachings of her past, and how desperately she tried to separate herself from it, "Like you, I wasn't sure of my path. But after this battle, I think...I think I know what I want now." "...Why are you telling me this?" Lera asked, and Yuna reached forward before gently bopping her on the nose. "Because you fought with hesitation, just like I did." Yuna said, slowly backing away as she left behind a sentence for Lera to ponder, "We all fight for our own reasons, Lera, but whatever that is, we can't fight while being held back in our heads." Lera blinked in confusion as Yuna walked away, and the echo of her words rang true within her head. Is that truly how things are? Is she destined to become a burden on the battlefield...? She returned with the Chariot, her mind dazed and her thought cloudy. Ver and Fatera said something to her upon her return, but none of it was registered. Instead, she simply stumbled her way through the rest of the day as Ver and Fatera went to rest early. As the night sets on the Winter Wars resort and the stars above lit up the dark curtain, the groups of students that didn't make it past the first round had their last dinner within the resort. The atmosphere was a strange mix of somber and excitement, as the groups of students that made it say their final goodbyes to those that didn't. "Yuna-sama..." Matty said, tears welling in his eyes, "We will be cheering for you at home!" "Alright alright...sheesh..." Yuna said, playing with Matty's hair as he had it fully lowered for her just for today, "Don't be such a fucking crybaby..." "I am certain you will bring Victory back to us, Yuna." Braka said, his voice firm, "Please...take this pudding." "You trying to make me fat?!" Yuna shouted before cracking a smile, "Jeez...It's not like I am saying goodbye to you forever..." Then, Yuna turned her head and glanced towards another table on the far side of the dining hall as Lera, Ver, and Fatera sat and ate in silence. Well, it's not exactly that quiet due to Fatera's obnoxious chewing and Ver's intense slurping. "Oh come on, Lera." Fatera said, breaking the silence, "Ya haven't said anything since ya came back!" "I...what? Did I not?" Lera looked dazed, and she blinked a few times before looking down at the bowl of half-eaten potato stew, "I...suppose so. I just don't feel hungry..." "Still, ya gotta eat up." Fatera said, dropping a piece of steak in her bowl, "You can't grow to become big and strong otherwise." "I will never become big and strong...what's the point...?" Lera said, pushing the bowl forward and sighing, "I will never become like you two." "Lera..." Ver said, reaching her hand out when Fatera instead slapped it down. "No, you won't." Fatera said, her fist resting on the table and drawing Lera's attention, "Look at me." Lera did so, and her gaze clashed with the crimson intensity from Fatera. "Ya will never become as big and strong as us two." Fatera said, her voice serious and tone hard, "But who said ya have to? Who said this is the only way ya could fight? In trying to compete with us, ya have already..." "Fatera's right." Ver interrupted as Fatera and Lera both turned to face her, "There is a reason that there is a standard composition for three-man and five-man units. We need you, and Wu needs you for our future battles." "Don't think of this as another failure, but rather...as an assessment for ya to continually get stronger." Fatera added, "Just because you will never surpass us in raw combat strength doesn't you can't continually improve." "And it doesn't diminish your value in battle." Ver said, "Ever since entering into the Academy, we have been fighting on our own nonstop, but that won't last forever. Eventually, the enemy will show their faces, and to win, we will all need to fight together." "Taste defeat. Embrace it. Then, move past it." Fatera said, "I too wish I could taste it, but it has been way too long...Perhaps this is the curse of victory." "How is that a bad thing?!" Lera asked, "You are literally known as the One who Wins!" "I have been plateauing." Fatera said, lowering her voice and leaning forward as Lera's eyes widened and her jaws dropped, "And it's not in the same way as me reaching my absolute potential...no...I flat out plateaued...No matter what, I...couldn't enter the Dominance state. Ya know what that is?" Lera and Ver shared a glance, and they thought back to when Kaire Jin pulled out her Dominance mode at the end of the battle by the sea-side in the Endless Woods. The Dominance state/stage/form is the ultimate form of power for any Channelers. At that stage, the Wave user's internal pool of Wave is sharpened and strengthened to such an extent that it not only affects the Wave in the environments but also affects the flow of the Wave in other Wave users directly, creating a zone of absolute control and...dominance. "How close are you?" Ver asked, "I have been close to Perfect Synchrony once, but..." Perfect Synchrony is the analogous state for Manifesters as Dominance state for Channelers, and Lily Watts was able to reach that state during the Ring of Fire event against Wu and Fatera. "Not even close." Fatera lightly slammed her fist on the table with a mix of frustration and desperation, "I have been relying on my overflowing Aura, but that's whole orders of magnitude beneath the Dominance state. Similar to how Yuna's own Wave usage, actually." Yuna would have been ecstatic if she knew that Fatera's paying that close an attention to her. "Is that why you are here?" Ver asked, "To find a way to reach it?" "I have come to seek out defeats." Fatera said, her eyes burning, "Not through technicalities, but...I want to experience a total, absolute, dominating, and humiliating defeat at the hands of someone truly strong...then...only then can I emerge even stronger than before." Fatera's voice became louder and louder as she continued, and that inevitably drew the attention of the others. However, as they associated her voice with the fiery girl that gave Matty Joel an absolute beatdown earlier that day, nobody dared say anything. "I guess...I shall see you soon." Lera said, waving a hand and forcing a smile as sets of ski Casts were set up right outside the Winter Wars resort. "Yeah yeah..." Fatera laughed, "Go take care of ya man, Lera!" "Shut up!" Lera kicked the ski and pushed it down the slope, "Shut up..." The wind rushed past her ear as the shiny lights of the Infinite Academy buildings started moving closer and closer towards her once again. As the ski Cast wobbled through the layers of pressed fresh snow, a pleasantly gentle scratching sound accompanied her as they went down. Then, the Cast dispelled itself as the countless students exited the artificial mountain range, signifying the end of their Winter Wars journey. The entire town had become unrecognizable as countless projection Casts were set up all around for other students to view the tournaments on, and even more supporters stood and waited by the boundary of the mountain range for their friends and loved ones. There were hand-written signs that were held up with names of other students, and Lera glanced over at the crowd with a plain expression, knowing full well that there won't be anyone there waiting for her. Her foot printed onto the crunchy snow as she started heading for the exit. Then, she heard a voice coming from beside her. "Welcome back." Wu said, lowering a sign with Lera's name over it before Lera looked at him funnily. His face was fully puffed up due to the cold, and he had a bit of a runny nose. Lera cracked a smile, and she leaned forward as Wu wrapped his arms around her, lifted her dinner-filled body up and spun her around. She latched onto him, taking in his scent before pressing her chin firmly into his. "Welcome back..." Wu said, "You have done well..." "All I did was lose..." Lera corrected, but Wu instead pulled her back slightly and shook his head. "No..." Wu said, "You showed your strength." With her arms firmly attached to Wu's arm, the pair started heading back towards Wu's little hideout towards the edge of the academy. The journey took about half an hour as Lera took Wu through the various walkways and connecting points that he had't been visiting at all. "The Void Domain you were able to create was far bigger than anything I could have thought of." Wu said as the two of them walked past a series of stalls before stopping in front of a stand that sells slightly different variations of steaming sweet buns, "I would like to know what modifications you used!" "It's just the same base layer that makes Rapid Layering work." Lera said, her fingers charting a diagram in the air, "Translational research, right?" Wu giggled and nodded. Then, he placed an arm over Lera's shoulder as he reached forward and bought a set of sweet red bean buns with spare money he got from helping out the college-less students. "Come..." Wu said, sounding mysterious as the pair finished their sweet buns and hopped off the walkway into the forest, "While you were out there, I did some digging, and...here's what I have found." By the time they returned to Wu's hideout, there were already groups of people there. Those are the other College-less students, and they all cheered after seeing Lera. "The PORA, the Union, the Boarded...They are all closely tied together." Wu said, gesturing towards a person in the middle of the camp, "And...they are planning to take advantage of specific individuals during the Winter Wars by converting them and controlling them..." "How did you find out all of this?" Lera asked as she walked past the groups of the college-less and saw a man with familiar blonde hair and a wide pointy chin. "Because of him." Wu said, pointing towards Charlie Watts who turned around, revealing a face that's heavily bruised. "They are trying to convert my sister." Charlie said, his voice shaken, "Please...help me save her."