Before the chapter begins, I would like to state somethings. Firstly, I am very busy right. I have two finals (along with normal curriculum finals) as well as a concert (which I'm performing in) which I need to practice for. Secondly, I have a girlfriend (don't call me a real lifer plz xD) and she also takes up some of my time (not complaining). Then swim practice, about 2 hours gone. Lastly, I got into a new game that I love to play. No excuse there lol.

This chapter is about twice as long as usual, clocking in at 3900-something words. My usual chapters are from 1800-2300 words, so it's about double. Now, I have to apologize for my absence. I didn't intend to prolong it so greatly. My bad. My eyelids are about to drop any second. Anyway, enjoy.

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-Two weeks later-

The room that Kyte was within began to brightly shine with a white radiance. It calmed down after a few seconds and Kyte stood up to admire his work. There was a large formation on the ground that seemed to have several different formations built into its structure.

"Finally! Hahaha! I finally completed it...after three whole days."

During these two weeks, Kyte managed to climb all the way up to the end of the intermediate formations. He had unlocked information about beginning advanced formations, but even the "easiest" advanced formation is two times harder than the most "complex" intermediate one. Kyte decided to not continue and to increase his experience with what he can actually do.

The formation he just finished was a combination of four different offensive formations with a defensive formation as the base. The offensive formations are able to create large amounts of energy form out of the air and Kyte is able to use that energy to his advantage. It could turn into lightning, fire, earth, water, wind, pretty much anything that could be lethal. The defensive formation creates a very thin barrier around whatever it's protecting. However, that thin barrier's defense is so powerful that Kyte can't even break through it, and its only an intermediate formation.

Now that it's been combined with four different offensive formations, its power has multiplied. When formations are structured together to form one formation, the power they have is merged and thus is increased. It doesn't matter if it's a defensive and an offensive merging, their power will increase regardless.

This is also the first combined formation that Kyte had completed with these two weeks. He's made several different formations, which he could use on his armor, but they wouldn't be able to merge and form a single formation to increase in power. Kyte also decided to use defensive formations as his base for a merged formation because that would take care of his basic defensive measures. Probably.

It's not that Kyte doesn't want defense, it's just that he's hungry for more attack power. Using a defensive formation for the base is a good choice because that sets up for a stronger structure and allows more formations to be merged together. Defensive formations are usually more solid while offensive and other formations are more wild. That's why a defensive formation's structure is better to use as a base than any other.

Anyway, Kyte had been working on this merged formation for three days. Kyte could tell that the four offensive formations increases the defensive's power by at most three times. Adding on to that the defensive power of the S rank armor, Kyte should be safe. Although, he has to reduce the formation's size before applying it to the armor. That process could take another few days to complete but, since Kyte has another week until the S rank tournament starts, he still has time.

"It's almost time for the A rank tournament to start. Shadow got ranked up to an A rank so he'll be participating in this one. I'm curious to see him up against other people."

Kyte stood up and stored the big formation within the storage necklace before leaving the training hall. It was quarter to noon so Kyte only had minutes before the tournament started. Shadow wasn't competing at the start so he had some extra time but it still takes a bit to walk all the way to the stadium.

Also, Kyte went and watched the others' matches as well. He's only mainly watching them because he has hope that he'll get a certain insight watching others fight. Though most of his time has been spent practicing with formations, and his hard work is beginning to bear fruit.

He's also supposed to meet up with the others on the way to the stadium but he unsuspectingly spent more time on his formation than he wanted to. However, he managed to actually finish it even if he was a few minutes late.

While he was walking along the wide path the began to turn left toward the stadium, someone tapped his shoulder.

I wasn't able to sense them at all?!

Kyte turned his head to look and saw an unexpected face behind him.

"Azali? What are you doing here?" Kyte asked in a confused voice.

"Ehehe, my father told me that I can go and watch the matches with friends if I wanted to." Azali brightly smiled up at Kyte.

"Really? Then, why don't you go with your friends?"

"Eh?...Well, the thing is...um...I don't have any friends."

-Ah. I slipped up.

"...If that's the case, then you can just come with me."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"You're not going with anyone else?"

"I am. My Branch is waiting for me."

"Oh..."

"What, you wanted us to be alone or something?"

"Ehhh? No, I didn't want that all..."

"What are you looking embarrassed for? I'm just teasing you. Come on, let's go."

"A, alright."

Kyte turned back around and continued toward the stadium. Azali quickly caught up to him and walked by his side. Before she went up to him she already noticed the Gold S rank armor that Kyte was wearing. Along with that, she felt a slight change in the air around him, as if it turned even more intelligent than before. Little did she know that there were already multiple formations laid on the first robed layer and second robe layer.

The Gold S rank robes that Kyte acquired at least a week ago fit him perfectly. The outer layer was black and was the shortest. The middle layer was crimson in color and was a bit longer than the outer layer. The bottom layer was golden in color and was a bit longer than the middle layer. The outer layer was the only clearly visible one; the middle and bottom layers were only visible at the bottom and near Kyte's neck. Only the outer, black, layer was made into an open collar near Kyte's neck while the other two layers cut off at the base of his neck. The hood was also black and Kyte had already laid a formation within it. The bottom of the robes reached the bottom of his shins while being shorter and slightly parting in the front.

The robes themselves were actually quite thin, so wearing three of them sewn together didn't make it heavy or uncomfortable. Plus, God Fibers were originally very light weight so an S rank armor would naturally be easy to carry and move around it.

At first Kyte wanted something more bulky, but he decided against it because it would only hinder his movement. Unlike a heavy armor-type, the light weight robes were easy to maneuver in. Kyte also preferred to not carry around too much on his body, mostly because he has the storage necklace which has a crazy amount of space in it, even with most of it still locked.

Azali would occasionally steal glances of Kyte on their way to the stadium, though she was still confused on his real power. She could still only feel his power being at around the Gold A range, not any higher. How was he able to get an S rank? Along with that was the slight change in his atmosphere and the mysterious air surrounding his robes. Just these few things made Azali curious as to what Kyte's secret or secrets were.

While they were walking they began to talk about the previous matches and what they were expecting to see with the A rank tournament. They naturally edged away from the tournament subject and smoothly entered other conversations as they continued toward the stadium.

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Rose was currently waiting outside the stadium for Kyte. He was already ten minutes late, and it turned out that Shadow's first match was moved from a later time to one of the earlier times. The first match was already completed and Shadow's match is scheduled after the current one. Rose couldn't help but think about Kyte's supposed harsh training in the training hall.

As she was thinking of that, she looked up and saw Kyte slowly walking around the corner on the path to the stadium. A smile quickly appeared on her face and she began to walk forward, however, a second figure entered her view.

A beautiful, young woman with long, golden hair wearing red and golden-trimmed robes was walking next to Kyte. Not only that, but it looked like they were having an intimate conversation as they walked toward the stadium.

Rose's smile slowly faded and she stood in place, watching them walk towards her. Kyte finally noticed Rose several seconds after he turned the corner and he naturally produced a smile. Seeing that, Rose couldn't help but put on a smile as well, although she was feeling a bit weird on the inside.

"Hey, you've been waiting for me?" Kyte said as he hugged Rose.

"Yea, you're more than ten minutes late. Shadow's match got moved up." Rose said, enjoying Kyte's embrace.

"Really? Sheese, at least text me about it."

"I didn't want to interrupt your training, that's all."

"Ah, alright. Well, take us to where the others are."

"Oh, right. Kyte, who's this?" Rose stood next to Kyte with his arm around her shoulder, and she unconsciously tightened her own grip around Kyte's waist.

"Oh, her. Well, her name is Azali Wux."

"What?! You mean...she's..."

"Yea, she is."

"Woah..n-nice to meet you, Ms. Wux."

"A-ah, please don't speak like that. Just call me Azali, please." Azali replied with a slightly uncomfortable expression.

"Then...Azali."

"Yes."

"Alright. Also, why are you here?"

"My father let me watch the matches with my friends."

"So you're with Kyte, why?..."

"He's my friend."

Rose took a peak at Kyte. He sensed a slight disturbance and immediately said:

"Well, we've only met once before and that was in the testing hall. This is our second time seeing each other in two weeks. Besides, aren't we going to miss Shadow's match? We should get inside already."

Rose slightly squinted her eyes at Kyte but she let it go in the end. She walked by Kyte's side into the stadium and Azali followed slightly behind Kyte. Azali felt a little awkward about what had happened, but she didn't let it get to her. Besides, she was more confused about Rose's behavior because she doesn't have any experience with matters concerning romantic relationships. She has no clue why Rose was acting weird, and Azali sincerely thought of Kyte as her new friend.

When he got inside, Kyte looked throughout the giant stadium. It looked like it could hold a large crowd of a thousand people, and all the seats situated around the center arena seemed to be expertly crafted. Each chair had red cushioning and arm rests. Not only that but there was actually some space between each chair so everyone isn't so cramped.

"Holy crap, this whole thing looks incredibly expensive." Kyte said.

"Really? This is normal for us, though." Azali lightly replied.

"Ah...well, I guess so. Rose, where's everyone else?"

"Follow me, I'll show you." Rose said as she walked ahead of Kyte.

They walked for a few minutes before arriving at one of the higher rows of chairs. Kyte saw Lucy, Jol, and Light sitting with two chairs them.

"Kyte! You're late!" Jol said.

"Yea, yea, I know." Kyte replied with a light sigh.

"Hey, Kyte, who's that? Will she be added to your newly forming hare-" Just as Light was going to finish his sentence, Kyte sent a weak slap of Internal energy across his face.

"Light, shut up. She's a new friend I met a while ago. Also, can you scoot down one chair? She needs a seat."

"Oww....fine." Light rubbed his cheek as he scooted one seat down.

"Ah, you didn't have to do that."

"Azali, it's not a problem. Light could sit far away from us and he still won't care." Kyte said.

"Hey, that's a bit mean."

Kyte cleared his throat and said:

"Azali, go ahead."

"Ahaha, thanks..."

There were three empty seats that were now open to them, so Kyte sat in the middle while Rose and Azali on either side of him. Rose was feeling slightly on guard around Azali, even though she has a high degree of trust in Kyte. Regardless of that, she felt that keeping an eye on that girl would be the right thing to do.

"So, Rose, when is Shadow's match?" Kyte asked.

"He should be up in less than five minutes. The last match just ended so his should be starting."

"Alright."

Confirming that, Kyte looked around at the audience. There was about four hundred people within the stadium, and that's not counting the ones that aren't watching the matches or participating in them. There was roughly fifty or so Branches within Sector 31, with the amount of Gifted within each Branch differentiating between high and low.

Kyte saw many different colors within the sea of people, signifying the many diverse powers, armors, and weapons. There were a few existences that Kyte could particularly sense, which made him realize that those are the S ranked Gifted. The S rankers' auras were naturally more intense and majestic so Kyte could easily notice them.

There was one section specifically blocked off from public entrance. It was located above the regular seats, connected to the wall which was left of Kyte. It looked like an open-air balcony with seats arranged with a perfect view of the entire arena. Kyte could see a few people up there, and they all wore red, gold-trimmed robes. He immediately realized that everyone up there were part of the Wux family.

Kyte wondered why Azali wasn't up there with them, or at least someone that knew why it wasn't a commotion that David's daughter wasn't up there. Maybe it's because she's his daughter that she can do whatever she wants. Plus, she's not weak either, so there's only a very small number of people that are able to stop her.

Kyte then noticed a giant holographic screen appear in the middle of the arena. It showed:

~~~

Rank A Tournament

Shadow vs. Lanzer

~~~

A bunch of people cheered while a majority just lazily clapped. A lot of people in the audience were there to watch the fights and gain some insights into battle techniques. This is especially true for any Special Gifted or Mutated Gifted, because any amount of enlightenment could exponentially increase their power.

"Shadow's coming out!" Light said excitedly.

"Woohoo! Go Shadow!!" Jol and Light began to loudly cheer.

Kyte only sighed as the others weirdly smiled.

Shadow and another man appeared in the middle of the arena from below as the ground opened up and revealed the two of them. They walked forward off the platform they were on, and the ground quickly closed. They faced each other as the countdown began.

Kyte could see that they were talking to each other. The man named Lanzer was clearing showing disdain toward Shadow, as if he viewed him as an insect. However, in contrast to Lanzer's clear provocative expression, Shadow's face was clear and unmoved. He merely stared at Lanzer with a clear murderous aura, with the intention to kill the first chance he gets.

Kyte had never seen Shadow show so much emotion before. There must be some really bad blood between the two for Shadow to feel so much anger. Kyte could see that Shadow really wanted to kill Lanzer; just seeing him standing there sent a slight chill down his back.

The countdown ended, and Shadow immediately shot toward Lanzer. The air in-front of Lanzer suddenly violently vibrated and quickly moved to block Shadow. He hit the vibrating air, which instantly knocked him back several meters. The vibrating air then shot toward Shadow. He put a barrier of black energy which neutralized the vibrations.

"What's Lanzer's power?" Kyte turned to Rose and asked.

"He's able to manipulate sound. He can manipulate any type of sound, even if it's the smallest amount movement. For example, he can manipulate the sound created from merely blinking and transform it into a very powerful pulse of energy."

"What?...Holy crap." Kyte looked back toward the arena.

Shadow once again tried to close the distance between him and Lanzer, but Lanzer continued to blast powerful sound waves to block him. Every time that happened, Shadow would defend himself with his black energy.

When Kyte watched closely, he noticed that the sound waves weren't neutralized immediately when they contacted Shadow's energy. The energy within the sound waves were instead being eroded away very quickly. Kyte understood what Shadow was talking about when he said his power had mutated. It went from normal inanimate objects to powerful forms of energy and other material objects.

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I can't get close to him!

Shadow once again neutralized the destructive sound waves coming toward him. He created a spear of black energy and threw it at Lanzer's chest, however, a wall of sound waves bent the energy off course, making it fly off into a wall.

"Hahaha, Shadow, is this all you got? Your Silver A rank is very undeserved!" Lanzer sneered and shot two surges of sound waves toward Shadow.

The waves completely surrounded Shadow as he brought up a wall of black energy to deflect them. The waves slowly dissipated into nothing, and Shadow took a single step forward, making a small sound on the ground.

Before he could react, the ground underneath his foot exploded as a strong pulse of energy shot up from it. The blast directly hit Shadow, shattering the bones in his right leg and throwing him into the far wall. A large cloud of dust was whipped up from the explosion, and Lanzer calmly walked into it.

Shadow put his back against the wall and covered his mouth to stop the dust from getting into his lungs. He couldn't feel his leg, so he reached out to touch it. He could feel his jello-like leg with the bones protruding out from it. Blood continuously seeped onto the ground, and after confirming the existence of his leg, pain gradually began to set in.

His leg was completely shattered all the way up to his knee. Shadow ground his teeth as the pain began to increase in intensity. He couldn't hear Lanzer approaching, but he could feel a sense of danger becoming increasingly apparent. He looked down at his leg again and clenched his jaw.

Black energy seeped out from his leg and completed covered it. Shadow stood up and put pressure on the leg, however, he couldn't feel anything from it. Then, he spread the black energy to cover his entire body. He made the black energy thicker and thicker as it covered him.

Since I can't move my leg, I'll use my energy to move it for me.

Shadow leaped forward out of the fog, barely dodging a blast of sound waves. The waves of sound carried the dust cloud away from the two of them, completely revealing Shadow and Lanzer. Interested chatter began to spread throughout the audience when they saw a large black figure appear from the dust. Shadow looked like an impenetrable tank.

"So, that's what you resort to, huh?" Lanzer while using the sound from his voice to bombard Shadow.

The ground around Shadow slightly cracked under that pressure, showing just how powerful a small bit of Lanzer's power is. However, even under that power, Shadow's energy completely deflected the sound waves. Then, he jumped toward Lanzer.

The speed that Shadow showed had actually increased from before. This shocked Lanzer and confused him, because he though Shadow's speed would have slowed down rather than speed up.

Lanzer quickly blasted himself away using a sound wave explosion while simultaneously using the sound from his finger snaps to smash against Shadow's armor. However, the sound waves simply disintegrated into nothing when they touched Shadow's energy.

Lanzer stopped and clapped his hands together, greatly focusing on the sound that came from it. He shot the large pulse of energy toward Shadow, and this time the sound wave was significantly more powerful. The air trembled as the sound waves smashed against Shadow, stopping him in his tracks and even shaving off a few pieces of his armor.

However, that only lasted for a second. Shadow immediately continued toward Lanzer and his armor also regenerated itself. The ground underneath Shadow's feet would turn into ash whenever he touched it, leaving a trail of black ash behind him.

Lanzer continued to blast large and powerful sound waves at Shadow. The waves of sound would smash against his armor and pieces of black energy would fly up into the air and quickly disappear. It seemed like the supply of his energy was endless as his armor would only immediately regenerate after being damaged.

Lanzer on the other hand was getting visibly exhausted from the running and continuous use of his mental power. Continually blasting sound waves caused his hands to go numb, and he began to hear a ringing in his ears despite his control over sound. He was breathing heavily and his back was drenched with sweat. A small emergence of fear welled up inside him, but he forcefully suppressed it.

Suddenly, he saw Shadow arrive directly in-front of him. Shadow's right arm transformed into a drill and he stabbed toward Lanzer. Lanzer opened his mouth and yelled, putting all of his strength into his attack.

The sound wave blasted Shadow back several meters while destroyed the ground within its path. Large sections of Shadow's armor was missing, but they quickly disappeared as his armor regenerated. Shadow calmly stood up and once again leaped toward Lanzer.

Seeing this, Lanzer fell into despair. That attack had his full strength within it, but it looked as if nothing had happened to Shadow. Lanzer desperately tried to get away, however, his exhaustion made it extremely difficult to move.

Shadow didn't slow down in the slightest. Rather, his speed increased as he gave one last push. He arrived behind Lanzer, raised his arm, and swiped it down on top of him. Shadow's arm smashed against Lanzer's shoulder, because he managed to move his head out of the way just in time.

Shadow's arm didn't stop. It continued down, slamming Lanzer's body into the ground. a giant indention appeared as cracks spread out across the ground around Lanzer's body. He was on the ground, face down, with Shadow's arm drilling into his shoulder while pieces of flesh were being ripped out from under his skin.

Shadow wouldn't kill him. Besides, it's forbidden to do so within the arena. However, there's no rule against venting anger. Shadow engulfed himself with his intense anger and crazily pounded Lanzer's body while torturing him. However, before he could get into it, a bell sounded.

A giant screen appeared above the arena, showing:

~~~

Rank A tournament

Shadow vs. Lanzer

Shadow Wins!

~~~

Shadow looked up and saw the screen, taking his arm away from Lanzer's body. He looked down at the mangled body below him, and silently stepped out of the puddle of blood underneath his feet. The black energy around his body disappeared, revealing a blood-soaked body with a shattered leg.

Shadow took a single step before collapsing on the ground from completely exhaustion and severe mental power depletion.

As Kyte watched Shadow take his single step, a small smile appeared on his face.

A mutated Gifted...how powerful. They can win against someone that has a higher power level than them.