“Ver wanted us to go out there and collect information…but how do you even distinguish information from noise when there is so much of it…?” Wu murmured before he sat back against the supporting column of the tent that the two of them were sitting in.

The notebook in front of him was filled with various notes taken about the feuds and traits of the many houses that came and went within the market, but the PORA agents had always been hiding exceedingly well in such environments, and so Wu wasn’t exactly surprised to have found nothing so far.

That’s what eventually pushed him down the path of noting down nearly everything and creating a snapshot of the inter-house relationships. One thing that became immediately clear was that the highest-ranking houses simply do not bother to come to this region of the market space, deeming it too low-class for individuals of their caliber and backgrounds.

“Just keep at it, I think.” Lera said, standing up after finishing up her bowl of fish soup, “It’s either that PORA had already infiltrated all of the Houses and are hiding in plain sight, or they really do not bother themselves of the weaker houses.”

“If I am to take control of this kingdom, I would have involved myself with an up-and-coming house with enough potential to take it all in the next tournament.” Wu agreed, putting his hood back on, “And it’s certainly unlikely that anyone from the lower twenty houses would have the potential to take it all.”

“Except for Ver.” Lera reminded, “Because we will help her.”

Wu nodded silently before taking a turn away from the main streets. Suddenly, he caught several shadows moving in the corner of his eye. Flicking on his sensors, he saw blobs of glowing patterns quickly circling them.

“I feel them too.” Lera murmured, creating a shield Cast right behind them as an individual fighter dashed overhead and dropped a triplet of projectile Casts straight down. Lera twirled her finger as the shield Cast swung around overhead in an arc, parrying and deflecting those dark grey spheres before smoke shot out from all around it, “Let’s go!”

With another hand, she casted her chariot in a single movement before Wu and her both leaped on.

“Which colors are they?” Wu asked, quickly wiping away the sensors before he activated his suit of armor and covered his entire surroundings with the Void Domain shield layer, keeping the purple smoke at bay as the chariots rattled away, "I sure hope I am not as color blind as I am..."

However, before they could pick up any speed at all, a monstrous outline materialized from the other side of the smoke before its head split into three, and three balls of flame came swirling through the air towards the pair.

“Shit!” Lera yanked the chariot upward as those balls of flame exploded upon impact against the shield layer from underneath as flames jet out and slammed against the walls of the buildings below. As their chariot carved a curved trajectory through the air, the monster roared and leaped straight up, its sharp grey fangs easily tearing through the shields and breaking past the void domain before biting against the body of the chariot.

"Shit!" Lera strained as she increased her output into the chariot Cast to maintain their current flight path, but the additional weight made everything far more difficult than it should be.

“I will knock him off.” Wu said, snapping his wrist to draw out his sets of wrist-mounted blades before vaulting over the backside of the chariot as he came face to face with their attacker.

It was a young boy with blue hair and a black claw pattern glowing over his right eye. He was riding atop the three-headed beast covered in glowing red armor, with himself protected behind a set of blue and white body armor. Seeing Wu, his eyes turned red before he thrust his obsidian blue trident forward.

“Tsk!” Wu swiped his blades downward while creating a blast from his legs to move out of the way of the thrust. Then, as his body was diving back behind the boy, he shot out a massive blast of Wave straight at the boy’s body, however, the boy easily dodged it by tilting to the side, "He's blue alright!"

“This will have been your last miss.” He said coldly before swirling around his trident as his muscles threatened to pop from underneath his armor. However, before he completely spun around on the beast’s back, Wu’s blast had completely blown apart the backside of the chariot Cast.

“I wasn’t aiming for you.” He said with a smile before reaching his hands out to both sides and keeping his body in the constant orientation as air rushed by his ear.

Now with nothing to bite onto, both Wu and the young boy and the three-headed beast he was riding started free-falling. However, Wu blasted away from them after retracting his blade as the young boy screamed and pointed his trident at Wu’s feet.

“Latch onto him!” He ordered as the eyes of the beast glowed, at it kicked back onto thin air before light blue platforms made of the Wave formed under its feet, providing him with a platform to push off of, “Relentless Hunt!”

With a singular roar from the middle head of the beast, it caught onto the strands of Wave released from the blasts under Wu’s feet before biting onto those lines of Wave and yanking Wu straight back like a ragdoll.

"SHIT!" Wu shouted as his arms flaied out of control and his head was thrown into whiplash, "ARGHHH!!!"

“Wu!” Lera yelled, dispelling the rest of the chariot immediately and diving down towards him.

“What the hell is this?!” Wu cursed, his body rapidly pulled towards the beast as the boy prepared to impale him through the chest with his trident. However, Lera hovered both of her hands forward, projecting forward her bouldering Cast that rapidly increased the weight of the boy’s trident.

The boy's arms nearly buckled and snapped underneath the weight of his weapon, and that rapid change nearly pulled him off the back of the beast.

“I…I can’t get free from the thing!” Wu said, trying to increase the output from the blast as the beast held him in place through what felt like an invisible string.

“Use your sensor, you idiot!” Lera shouted as Wu flicked down his sensor, and it was then that he saw the visualization of the strands of Wave the beast was biting onto.

That’s…new. Wu blinked. Then, he pulled out his rifle before shooting a Void Doming homing shot at his feet as the dark orb exploded right over the beast’s face and dispelled all of the Wave it was holding onto.

Suddenly, the constant outputs from the blasts of his feet sent him rocketing straight up, and he dashed past Lera, grabbing her by the waist and carrying her up and away from the beast

“Damn it…! Go after them!” The blue-haired boy shouted when Lera activated the second stage of her bouldering Cast and slowed both the body of the beast and himself further as the blue platforms they were standing on kept on increasing it size in response to her tempering, "I...I can't let this chance go by!

Though the effect of that Cast quickly wore off as they escaped its active range. With a final roar, Wu and Lera finally left the beast and the boy in the dust before a second Chariot cast was formed.

“What the hell was that…” Wu said, “Did…that thing just grab onto my Wave? As in...the Wave in my exhausts?”

“I don’t know how that’s possible…” Lera said, when she felt a cold sensation approaching them from behind, "The Wave left behind from used Casts are too messy, spread out, and weak to do anything with!"

As ground raced by underneath them, the pursuing beast pounced through the air with equal if not more velocity as it had gained enough ground to latch onto the Wave left behind by the Chariot Cast itself.

“I…will try to take out its head…” Wu murmured, spinning around his long riffle before he aimed the cross mark right at the head of the middle beast. Then, he encountered a question he has had to ponder before.

If you are shooting at a three-headed beast, which head do you shoot first? If one is injured, does it affect the other two? Would they sacrifice one head to shield the others? Is it like a left brain right brain situation?

Wu wondered as he slightly lowered his rifle to focus onto the chest plate of the beast instead. Perhaps striking the origin of the three necks is the most effective strategy. Get all three of them at the same time. Plus, it's a smaller target so it's less embarrassing if he misses.

And to be honest, he has been wanting to try out this very attack.

“Move out of the way if you don’t want to die!” Wu warned as blue Wave lines started swirling around the barrel of the rifle as he adjusted for the maximum output. Then, the energy continued spiraling inward, becoming condensed into a dark sphere before it was fired at last.

In an instant, the dark sphere tore through the distance between the beast, its rider, and Wu. it sank straight through the crimson chest piece before penetrating deep into the flesh of the beast itself as the energy within was unleashed.

It was Wu’s strongest attack at that moment, a combination attack of Void Domain and his strongest Wave orb as Wu calls it the Minstrel, which is a chocolate snack with a black exterior and milk chocolate within. The Void domain acted as the outer layer while a sphere of Wave packed to the brim with raw explosive Wave acted as the interior.

The beast let out a primal roar, but this time, it was one of suffering and anger as the blue platforms under it started to crack, and it’s feet started stepping throughh.

“Come on…get a grip…” The young boy cursed as the beast glided towards the ground before its claws slammed onto the dirt to break the fall with the boy's body slammed into the beast's back. Then, the manifest started to disappear from around him as the boy steadied himself and tried to fight off against the disorientation.

“Young master Rache! Are you alright?” The nearest soldier leaped off his chariot before hurrying to his side.

“Don't bother me! Go! Track them down…” Rache muttered before pressing himself up as the dark mark over his right eye glowed with pulsing pain, “They will not get away from here…none of those academy bastards will…”